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^-e CHURCH 

IN THE CITY 



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FRFDERICKDeLANDLEETE 





Class 

Book 

Copyright ]^^_ 



GOPYRJGHT DEPOSm 



OTHER BOOKS BY THIS AUTHOR 



EVERY-DAY EVANGELISM. 

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THE CHURCH IN 
THE CITY 



By 

FREDERICK DeLAND LEETE 

Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church 




THE ABINGDON PRESS 
NEW YORK CINCINNATI 



.L35 



Copyright, 1915, by 
FREDERICK DeLAND LEETE 



QEC -8l9i5 
©C1.A416758 



''E^sSex^to yap ryjv rovg ^e[i£?yi ovg e^ovaav 
nokiv^ Yig texvtryjg xal Syjfiiovpyog 6 ©edg. 



CONTENTS 

Chatteb Page 

IXTRODUCTIOX 9 

I. The CnrECH ix the M.^hket Place. . . 15 

II. Mother CnrRCHEs 28 

III. The City Latm.ix 38 

IV. The Brlntk of the Crater. 59 

V. The AIetropolit-^- Pastor 78 

XI. The Dowxtowx Problem 102 

VII. Family and Neighborhood Chtrches . . 129 

VIII. Chtirch Exdotv^iext 149 

IX. The Trexd toward lNSTm7Tiox-U.isM . . 175 

X. Advertisixg 202 

XI. Divisiox AX^D Coxsolidatiox 220 

XII. The Children of the Towx 233 

XIII. City ]\Ii5sioxs .an'd Suburbanites 254 

XIV. The City Redeemed 279 

BiBLIOGR.APHY 312 

Index 314 



INTRODUCTION 

If by its profound philosophy that monument 
of genius, piety, and erudition, "The City of 
God,'' was "the death warrant of ancient so- 
ciety,'' it was also, despite its mystic extrava- 
gances, the charter and vindication of the social 
purposes and program of Christianity. Never- 
theless, the world yet awaits the fulfillment of 
the divine ideal in the production, through the 
agency of the people of God, of a society adapted 
to all the needs of man, a society that both per- 
mits and assists his complete development in the 
parts and qualities of his being. 

Is this achievement possible of realization? 
Not if Rousseau was correct. "We are told," he 
says in treating the subject of civic religion, 
"that a nation of Christians would form the 
most perfect society conceivable. In this sup- 
position I see only one great difficulty — that a 
society of true Christians would be no longer a 
society of men." Pessimism establishes its logic 
by definitions. Schopenhauer, for example, 
"asserts that speculation is for action, wisdom 
for life, and then sophistically argues that we 
should not expect a metaphysician to be a saint." 
Christianity cannot organize society if it is itself 
inhuman. But if the teachings of Jesus and the 

9 



INTKODUCTION 

power which he imparts to his disciples, instead 
of making demigods or other abnormalities, 
produce characters of virtue joined with compas- 
sion, we may confidently expect that the result 
of the continued progress of Christianity will 
be the attainment of higher social values. 

Who is able to study the modern city and its 
relation to the life of rural communities and of 
the nation without being seized with the con- 
viction that the city is the focus of human need 
and opportunity, and that here the future of 
civilization is to be very largely determined? 
The growth of cities both in size and number 
has not only not been retarded by improved 
methods of communication and travel, but is 
being constantly accelerated. That this move- 
ment will cease seems unlikely, because, however 
attractive and healthful country residence may 
seem, certain necessities, solid advantages, and 
pleasures draw the masses toward the centers. 
But the crowding together of great populations 
into a contracted space brings to a head all the 
issues of their conduct and relationships. Samuel 
Johnson once exclaimed, ^The full tide of ex- 
istence is at Charing Cross.'' That stream also 
rolls past Trinity's new cross, and it flows from 
town to town through all the Avenues, Strands, 
Broadways, and Main Streets of the world. 

The modern city is a vast improvement over 
its prototypes and predecessors, but is neverthe- 
less corrupt. It needs redemption, transforma,- 

10 



INTRODUCTION 

tion and development, and that for this work 
the Church is fundamental I am evermore deeply 
impressed. The office of the Church is to pro- 
mote religion, which is the creator of moral 
ideas and the foster mother of the principles of 
self-denial and sacrifice; for it is religion which 
empowers the mind to conquer the evil solicita- 
tions of depraved nature and of the outer world, 
and which expresses itself in movements for 
social amelioration, and in representative deeds 
of virtue and of valor. Phillips Brooks exhibited 
a keen sense of the vital place of the Church in 
the regeneration of the city when he said, "The 
Church is simply the ideal world. A perfect 
Church would be a perfect world." But the 
Church is as yet far from the perfection which 
it seeks. It has never been perfect. The saying 
is true that "The Church, even in apostolic days, 
was by no means immaculate. It was being 
saved, not wholly sanctified ; but its very essence 
and its inmost spirit was a life of brotherhood 
and of practical love upon this earth." The 
surest proof that the Church is still being saved 
is the fact that in the most recent years it is 
renewing its ancient devotion to mankind, and 
is undertaking with a rekindled zeal to translate 
into terms of human experience the social teach- 
ings of Jesus Christ. Doubtless it will be by this 
route that the Church will move toward the goal 
of perfectness. 

"Know thyself" is as wise a law for organiza- 
11 



INTKODUCTION 

tions as for individuals. The Church, conscious 
of its incompleteness, and therefore quick and 
powerful, looks out upon the world with compre- 
hension and with holy intent : it should also look 
within upon its own life and operations. The 
Church needs to know the churches — what they 
are doing, and for what immediate as well as 
ultimate ends; what methods they pursue, and 
what movements are expressed in them; what 
agencies they possess and seek to attain in order 
to make their work effective. A complete 
scientific study and classification of churches has 
never been made. Perhaps the time for this is 
not yet ripe. Certainly, the present discussion 
is not offered as such an achievement, but as an 
introduction to some of the problems and issues 
involved in the relation of the Church to the life 
of the city. It will be understood that recog- 
nition of the supreme crisis of the city involves 
no disparagement of the important work of 
country churches and pastors. Indeed, atten- 
tion is especially called to the fact that a com- 
petent view of the matter represents the Chris- 
tian forces in rural districts as being engaged 
in constructive labors for the spiritual life of 
the town. While the severest contests of religion 
against irreligion and wickedness take place in 
city buildings and streets, preparations for the 
struggle are often made in quiet places of reserve 
and of power, and there also are produced the 
elements which reenforce and strengthen the 

12 



INTRODUCTION 

armies of righteousness. Besides which, the 
country is a land of itself, a lovely land, which 
has its own life and problems that deserve and 
rightly receive appropriate separate considera- 
tion at the hands of specialists. 

This book is the fruit of experience in five city 
parishes of widely different types, of observations 
made possible by proximity to other toilers 
and by travel, and of much reading and corre- 
spondence, in the course of which too many obli- 
gations have been incurred to permit of refer- 
ences. The thought of the writer is to offer to 
the knowledge of church life and labors some 
contribution which may prove to be suggestive 
and helpful to at least a portion of those persons 
who are engaged in the conquest of the city for 
itself and for Christ. As to the achievement of 
this purpose, all I would claim is the attempt. 
Feci quod potui. 

Frederick DeLand Leete. 



13 



CHAPTER I 
THE CHURCH IN THE MARKET PLACE 

The central city church is a standing protest 
against impiety and the devil of greed. Where 
highways meet, and throngs crowd and push; 
where human tigers lurk, and rush upon their 
prey, and man-spiders weave nets of lust, trap- 
ping the unwary and the luckless; where the 
good are too busy to feel the sense of brother- 
hood, and rich and poor alike struggle for perish- 
able gain, the church tower is lifted as a symbol 
of warning, of remonstrance, and of allurement 
to paths of purity, justice, and peace. 

The church at the center is an agent of right- 
eousness. As the bell of the temple of God 
rings out over marts of trade its call to prayer, 
profane lips are suddenly hushed, and minds 
secularized by toil and care become conscious of 
something good and true in themselves, and in 
the life about them. When church doors open to 
pour upon the streets a throng of worshipers, a 
stream of influence sweeps through the city 
which is more cleansing in its effects than 
hydrants emptied upon its pavements, or a 
river's tide sweeping through its alleys. 

15 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

The downtown church is a divine monitor: 
its gray walls speak of righteousness, its open 
doors of gospel welcomes, and its vaulted roof 
of heavenly love and protection. The convey- 
ance of the dead, standing before the portals of 
the sanctuary, is a frequent preacher of mortal- 
ity. The knowledge that a building dedicated to 
God stands on the street corner, or just down the 
block, and the sights and sounds which attend 
its presence in the vortex of the city's pride 
and shame, are a constant moral force, the more 
potent because subtle and pervasive. 

It is vindication of Christian philanthropy to 
maintain centers of religious and ethical culture 
in the midst of great and needy populations. To 
be where temptations are fierce, where life is 
raw and red, where human nature is subjected to 
great strains, and character is swiftly made or 
broken, is to be in the focus of opportunity to 
serve and to save. Does the membership of the 
Church regard men? Is it to themselves rather 
than to theirs that it is devoted? Is its strength 
for weakness, its comfort for striving, its healing 
skill for souls in extremis? Then it will not 
withdraw its forces from business districts, from 
hotel and boarding-house neighborhoods, or from 
the slums. In each of these localities Christian 
intelligence and purpose will hold the ground, 
adapting institutions and methods to such con- 
ditions as may be developed. The surrender of 
strategic sites for central city church work is 

16 



THE CHUKCH IN THE MAEKET PLACE 

due, in part at least, to some form of selfishness ; 
to the cowardice which runs from perils, to the 
laziness which dreads to face new problems and 
duties, or to avarice and pride w^hich pursue 
and ape the rich at whatever loss of usefulness 
and of respect. The spectacle of prosperous resi- 
dence wards being supplied with churches more 
and more costly, while the heart of the town is 
served by cheap and tawdry missions, or aban- 
doned to ungodliness, is an omen of evil to any 
city, and seems to many, not without reason, to 
be a startling disproof of Christian professions. 
The well to do have a right to own and to use \ 
good houses of worship, but Christianity should 
never desert the common people- He who came i 
to seek and to save that which was lost has no I 
part in such betrayals of the common good. 

The church in the market place is a triumph 
of courage over doubt, of faith over calculation, 
and of the spiritual over the material. Such a 
church is not an easy achievement : it must be 
born again when it is old, and the pangs of its 
second birth may be severe; its living is a daily 
dying and rising again ; its victories are not easy 
and bloodless, but are won on crimson battle- 
fields. The more glorious, therefore, are its con- 
quests ! And itself is glorious, for it proves that 
the spirit of Christ is still in the earth and that 
Christianity cannot be overwhelmed and smoth- 
ered, even by the smoke of a city. To men of 
affairs, who believe in getting things done, the 

17 



THE CHUEOH IN THE CITY 

live, pulsating central church appeals strongly: 
it begets confidence in religion and in its power 
to grapple with modern issues ; it proves that the 
soul has a might of its own which builds insti- 
tutions and sustains them at all costs. 

In civic matters the church in the midst of 
the business sections often has an influence be- 
yond that of a score of uptown societies, however 
intelligent and prosperous they may be. The 
church in sight is naturally better known to the 
people and to political and social leaders; its 
ministers are more often quoted because acces- 
sible ; its views are usually sought and considered 
in crises, and even concerning comparatively 
trivial incidents of public interest. This fact 
of itself constitutes an opportunity of a high 
order, which the alert preacher will seize, and 
by which the wise and strong leader will be 
able to deeply affect the thinking and manners 
of the people. 

Throughout every city where the Church is 
focally powerful, religious interest is well dif- 
fused and impressively manifested. If an ex- 
ception to this statement can be found, it is 
certainly noteworthy. The force of the argument 
may, however, be turned about, to the effect that 
religious vitality is displayed in strengthening 
the centers. Would that this were the case, but 
as a general proposition such a putting of the 
matter is unhistorical. Keligious leaders and 
organizations have in some instances realized 

18 



THE CHURCH IN THE MARKET PLACE 

the imperative necessity of going to the assist- 
ance of downtown work with labors and re- 
sources which have given them new life and 
respectability. But the church was in the center 
before it was in the suburbs, and the tide which 
flows back to it is that which first went out from 
it, leaving it shallow and weak, and reducing 
the common level of moral and religious influ- 
ence. In many cities it will require heroic sacri- 
fices and generations of service before sources 
of religious energy once held by the Church can 
be recovered and former effectiveness regained. 
Fortunate indeed are the cities which do not 
need to redig wells which once were filled and 
overflowing. 

Is Christianity winning its way to the ultimate 
complete conquest of the American city? Statis- 
tics upon their surface seem to bear out the 
claim frequently made that religious ideals and 
standards are steadily coming to a position of 
ascendency, and into control of the thought and 
customs of civic life. A closer study of the facts 
does not, however, fully confirm this favorable 
judgment. It is doubtless true that the propor- 
tion of church members to population has in- 
creased in the cities of the land as a whole. But 
it must be asked how much of this increased 
membership represents merely a transfer of 
names from country parishes to city church rolls. 
It must also be inquired. What part of this 
record is due to the retention of names repre- 

19 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

senting people who are but nominally in the 
church and not closely related to its life? The 
answers to such questions as these might greatly 
affect the estimates made of city church growth, 
and would doubtless give concern to the thought- 
ful. 

This much is vitally true : the city needs Jesus 
Christ ; and if he is to control the massed multi- 
tudes of the great municipalities, his Church 
must be found wherever men congregate, and 
especially where they are packed together most 
closely. The cross should shine in the sun over 
crowded thoroughfares, above the tides of traffic, 
in the midst of the strife and strain of selfish 
lust. The bell which calls to divine worship, and 
which in strictly residence neighborhoods may 
sometimes need to be suppressed, may effectively 
ring insistent, suggestive, inviting notes over 
warehouse and countingroom. From this place 
of vantage servants of God, ministers and lay- 
men, may march upon tenement, shop, and 
factory. Here the hosts of the Mighty One may 
meet and conquer the hosts of iniquity and the 
forces of oppression. Here must and will be 
fought the battle of the ages ; not on broad plains 
or mountain slopes, not on desert or sea, but in 
streets of towns, in commercial exchanges, in 
rolling mills and slaughterhouses, in railroad 
yards and department stores, in skyscrapers, and 
in blocks of homes which never saw green grass. 
How can the church desert its field in the con- 

20 



THE CHURCH IN THE MARKET PLACE 

gested center? Its presence and opportunity stir 
all the poetry of one's nature. What a call to 
serve, what a challenge to fearless action, what a 
blood-red life to live, that of Christ's church in 
the town's great heart! The response to this 
vocation will fix the destinies of the Kingdom 
of God. 

The central church should be preserved both 
for the work it is doing in its own distinctive 
field, and also because it is the gateway of the 
inner and better city. Every city dweller is 
familiar with the fact that the town is divided 
into inner and outer portions, though the outer 
city is within and the inner city is very largely 
without, in the home wards and suburbs. A 
resident of Xew York once remarked to a person 
who had commented on the doings of the night- 
revellers of America's metropolis : ^'These people 
are largely visitors. Our own citizens are mostly 
plain folks who go to bed at reasonable hours, 
and conduct themselves with much decency." 

The stranger and the newcomer dwell down- 
town, where the day is darkened with smoke, 
and where the night is turned into day; where 
distracting sounds and dazzling lights confuse 
the mind, and where temptations of every nature 
spread their nets openly or covertly. Every large 
town is a devourer, especially of young life, and 
of its better qualities. Possessed of a keen zest 
for pleasures and novelties, young men and 
women are impressed by whatever strong forces 

21 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

they encounter. If Christianity is sanely and 
powerfully represented in the heart of the town, 
if its work there is done by influential people 
operating an adequate and efficient plant, more 
than an equal opportunity exists of conserving 
the moral value of this too easily diverted but 
most hopeful and necessary element of society. 
Young people who come to the city from smaller 
towns and from the country do not ^^just natur- 
ally" want to go wrong. When they do this, in 
nineteen cases out of twenty it is because the 
strongest current which they met in the days 
when they were floating uncertainly on the tide 
of social life, and before their associations and 
habits had become fixed, was misleading and 
dangerous. 

The most important needs of the outer and 
new city, which is downtown, are not fully sup- 
plied by auxiliary societies of Christian origin 
and spirit, like the Young Men's and Young 
Women's Christian Associations, settlements and 
missions. Valuable as are many of these ad- 
juncts of ethical and religious culture, it is the 
Church itself which is required to stem the tide 
of immorality in the midst of dense populations, 
and to seize with a firm hand the youth who is 
beginning to be carried whither he knows not. 
The Church has beliefs, principles clear-cut, fel- 
lowship bonds and mutual obligations, a sense 
of duty rightfully demanded, a reputation in- 
trusted to its members, and to be maintained. 



THE CHURCH IN THE MARKET PLACE 

The Church furnishes mature thought and teach- 
ing, it exhibits developed and typical characters 
and examples of conduct, it provides sacraments 
of the most sacred nature and power. What- 
ever aids to goodness may be discovered, nothing 
can take the place of the Church of Christ as a 
maker and molder of wholesome personality. 

The right kind of central church is a door 
into good society. This statement is to be taken 
as being true in every sense, except in the narrow 
and restricted meaning of the term society, which 
regards its values as being the exclusive attri- 
bute of the exceptionally prospered or of the 
self -elected. A good church admits to the society 
of the good. Many people w^ho are worth know- 
ing, whose lives are pure, and whose association 
is profitable, are to be found in the membership 
of such a church, and while they may not be 
able to give much time and attention to new- 
comers, yet they are not unapproachable, or in- 
different, as in the case of some members in 
churches of other types. The latest arrival is at 
once welcomed into useful activities. Sooner 
or later he makes his way into pleasant homes, 
the doors of which swing open to him, not so 
much for Avhat he is as for what he may become, 
which the church would like him to be. The 
value of this service is beyond question, since 
those who are subject to the limitations and dis- 
comforts, as well as to the positive perils of 
hotels and boarding houses, are profited im- 

23 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

measurably by being furnished an avenue of 
approach to men and women well worth know- 
ing, and who can admit them to the inner city 
of respectability and of power. 

It must, of course, be confessed that the above 
statements are in part idealistic and suggestive. 
But they are neither impractical nor unrelated 
to reality. It is an indisputable fact that, as a 
rule, downtown churches, even when they have 
many persons of wealth and of distinction in 
their membership, are more cordial and friendly 
than are many societies, at least, which occupy 
less cosmopolitan neighborhoods. Not all mem- 
bers of these churches open their hearts and 
their homes as hospitably or as frequently as 
might wisely be the case. It nevertheless re- 
mains true that successful churches at the center 
present to those who are drawn into them many 
opportunities to form desirable acquaintances, 
and so to finally make their way into social rela- 
tions with good citizens. It may be said that, 
however advantageous this result may be to 
young and to new residents of the town, it is by 
no means an advantage to older citizens and to 
their families. Of course all social relations 
should be guarded with reasonable restrictions; 
they should be entered upon carefully and con- 
tinued with consideration. But when has the 
good, new life coming to a town been found as 
dangerous to those with whom it became associ- 
ated as city relationships, even in so-called best 

24 



THE CHUKCH IN THE MARKET PLACE 

families, have sometimes proved to be to that 
life? The majority of instances of contamination 
through such intermingling of social factors 
have been referable to degenerate members of 
the older class. 

The downtown church is an open sesame to 
social service. If suitably equipped, many deeds 
of helpfulness are performed by the church 
within its own walls, and here the recruits' 
drill in civic knowledge and usefulness is given 
to those who in a little time will be leaders in 
the good work of the community. Naturally, 
since institutions of philanthropy and of public 
betterment are near, members of central churches 
become easily related to their undertakings, as 
Avell as informed concerning them, and inspired 
by their ideals and achievements. Without 
doubt it will be found that a large proportion, 
if not the great majority, of effective social 
workers have at some time or other been asso- 
ciated with churches which by virtue of their 
very location have been brought into close con- 
nection with moral and economic problems, and 
with various attempts at their solution. Friend- 
ships of thought and of service, formed at such 
times, have proven to be of permanent value as 
well as of satisfaction. 

"The Church," said Lacordaire, "was born 
crucified." If any part of Christendom retains 
more distinctively than do others the sacrificial 
character, it is the church which acts as a gate- 

25 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

way to the inner life of a city, not only to its 
higher social and philanthropic circles, but to its 
religious life. It is one of the chief services of 
the downtown church that it saves and helps 
hundreds at the time of their greatest danger and 
need, and that when they have found themselves, 
and have secured a social foothold, it turns them 
over to other churches to bring to them resources 
and strength which otherwise might be, and 
which in many cases certainly would be, irre- 
trievably lost. If in any city which contains a 
strong central church a canvass were made of 
the members of other branches of the same de- 
nomination, it would reveal a surprisingly large 
number of people in each organization who at 
one time or another worshiped with the parent 
society. This is one of the reasons why those 
denominational bodies are relatively strongest 
which retain their early sites, and which, even 
at pain of much effort and expense, maintain in 
such places well-equipped establishments. For 
the sake of its conservations, reclamations, and 
preparations for service elsewhere the central 
church should have the esteem and, if necessary, 
the protection and aid of the Christian public. 
It cannot keep all its members, and would not do 
so if it could, since many persons are better 
fitted both by nature and grace for other types 
of work than that which it is doing. Those lay- 
men, however, who have the necessary qualities 
for the strenuous task of seizing and impressing 

2^ 



THE CHURCH IN THE MARKET PLACE 

with Christian purpose the incoming tides of 
population, and who are willing with their time 
and means to support this vital undertaking, 
should count the privilege one that is high and 
holy, approved of God and man. 

In my vision there arose before me in the city 
the temple of God, whose walls were lofty and 
fair, inclosing outer and inner courts of praise 
and of loving deeds. And the Gate Beautiful of 
this temple was the portal where waited, not only 
the suppliant for alms, but a throng of curious 
youths pressing eagerly into the ways of life — 
fresh gold, to be minted with the image of Christ, 
and to enrich his kingdom with their treasures 
of love. And I saw, and behold, some remained 
to tend this gate, and as the doorkeepers of 
God's house to welcome others into its shelter 
and joy, but many went on into the temple, and 
gave themselves to its inner care and use, so 
that there w^as always an easy entrance for the 
stranger who was drawn from the vice of the 
city into the pure atmosphere of Christian com- 
panionship and of divine worship, and always 
there were householders and fellow citizens who 
dwelt together in mutual bonds of service and 
of love. 



27 



CHAPTER II 
MOTHER CHURCHES 

Growth is from the center outward. Without 
a nucleus nothing germinates or spreads. Every 
process of reproduction requires parent forms. 
Mother churches are the fecund sources of reli- 
gious organizations and of their progressive 
development. 

Very little observation is needed in order to 
disclose the progenitorial value of ancient and 
historic Christian foundations. Where the old 
Isites have been sacrificed the consequent loss of 
ancestral pride is usually attended by restricted 
denominational extension, for which, in a con- 
siderable measure, it is responsible. Another 
[effect of abandonment of the centers is loss of 
I organic coherence. Robbed of the sense of com- 
mon origins, the consciousness of relationship 
between churches of the same creed and name 
is often greatly weakened or largely destroyed. 
Each society lives for itself, and the law of 
ecclesiastical effort in the community where this 
condition exists is a struggle for prosperity, not 
of the fittest, but of the strongest in material 
resources, and of the most selfish. The seeming 

28 



MOTHER CHURCHES 

success of some city churches is attained, not 
merely by accessions from the country and from 
the evangelistic successes of other communities, 
but by the surrender of their own former seats 
of power. Or they drain the lifeblood of other 
churches of the same community, w^hose mem- 
berships and means are sometimes reduced by 
unfair methods and at frightful cost to the king- 
dom of God. The angels of heaven must weep 
over these instances of piracy. Not disputing 
the fact that downtown churches are occasion- 
ally so badly located as to serve no useful func- 
tion if preserved on original sites, it remains to 
be deplored that such churches are frequently 
given up to business, and their congregations 
disbanded, because another organization wishes 
the added strength of their property values, or 
the acquisition of a few wealthy members. In 
one case of this kind the society was composed 
of some three hundred and fifty members, with 
an even larger Bible school, and was situated in 
a part of the town where courage and Christian 
grace might have permanently secured and 
served an extended constituency. This church 
was sold, it was thought by many, merely to 
bring three or Jour leading men, who for various 
reasons easily imaginable were not unwilling, 
into the fellowship of a far stronger group. The 
property of the absorbed congregation was dis- 
posed of at great loss, and much, if not most of 
the membership was scattered whithersoever 

29 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

fancy listed. The rich church secured its ends^ 
but only eternity can reveal the full effects of 
this dismemberment of one of the branches of 
the body of Christ. 

The mother church has a past, in which, how- 
ever feeble its early beginnings may have been, 
and however great the crises and vicissitudes of 
its later experience, and, indeed, because of these 
very matters, it possesses a rich inheritance. The 
loyalty which inspires men to give and to serve 
roots itself deeply in the fertile soil of tradition 
and of memory. One reason why many new 
churches are woefully lacking in generosity and 
in consecration is that they have no basis of 
comparison and of incentive except in connec- 
tion with other similar bodies. They are un- 
instructed by the labors and unimpelled by the 
self-denial of Christian forbears of their own 
organization. There is no splendid record of 
the character and achievement of such predeces- 
sors to be held up before them, and to which they 
may be led to feel that they must live up, even at 
the expenditure of much strength. 

All churches cannot be expected to possess an 
ancient history, but without the preservation in 
vigor and in usefulness of its older organizations 
the church societies of the community as a whole 
are cut up from the roots of historic recollec- 
tion and refreshment. Happy is the city which 
has strong old parent trees of moral fruitful- 
ness, and of Christian shelter and grace, to which 

30 



MOTHEK CHUECHES 

citizens point with pride, and from which not 
only those who dwell beneath them and those 
who come occasionally into their vicinity may 
receive good, but in which other and later Chris- 
tian plantings may rejoice as proving the vitality 
and permanence of religious life and of its 
institutions. 

If the reciprocal relations between the mother 
church and its offspring are normal and 
harmonious, all the children are conscious of 
possessing the same life, traceable to one original 
root and bringing them into a valuable sense of 
kinship. In the absence of living parents, family 
feeling is usually comparatively weak or non- 
existent. All things considered, fraternal love 
is not as deep or useful as is that of a mother. 
It seems to be a fact, established by many ob- 
servations, that a strong old central church is a 
unifying powder among organizations which have 
groAvn out of its life, which are fed from it, and 
which by its centripetal influences are bound to 
one another. 

It is the law of nature that parents should 
sacrifice for their children, and the mother 
church usually displays the maternal instinct. 
Orphans receive no parental love or aid, and 
children who abuse, impoverish, or destroy their 
forbears must get on without their care. When 
a mother church is well housed and nourished, 
its ministries are valuable, not merely for them- 
selves, but for their instructiveness. Teaching 

31 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

and example are quite as effective in church life 
as elsewhere. Such a church as is in mind, and 
such a one as is known in not a few cities, is 
constantly educative to younger churches and to 
inexperienced laymen. The catholic spirit of its 
members and their liberality put observers on 
their mettle. When a central church had ex- 
tended gifts and credit to several new organiza- 
tions, which by this aid came speedily into a 
condition of independent strength, the idea of 
imitating this achievement suggested itself to 
other churches of the same denomination. The 
leading men of one of these societies exclaimed, 
"We also must take a new enterprise under our 
care, both donating and extending a line of 
credit until success is assured." The idea caught 
hold of the town, and its influence spread until 
a considerable number of additional well-planted 
churches were in existence, and were helped into 
a prosperity to secure which unaided would at 
least have required a long period of time. 

Often all that is needed in order to seize for 
Christ new sections of city and of country alike 
is instruction, encouragement, and carefully con- 
sidered and guarded credit. In this way, without 
the gift of a dollar from outside, a comfortably 
housed and well-sustained church was estab- 
lished in a city where church enterprises were 
generally difficult of inauguration. An expen- 
sive lot was purchased wholly on security fur- 
nished by the mother church. An attractive sign 

32 



MOTHEK CHURCHES 

was put up, a spirited canvass for members was 
made, a building was erected by the gifts of the 
new recruits, supplemented by a loan secured 
through the same good offices which had obtained 
the lot. The people of the locality, thus reen- 
forced and sustained, rallied to the undertaking, 
which, under such sponsorship and encourage- 
ment, they felt from the first must surely suc- 
ceed. In a short time the new church was 
able to assume and to provide for all its own obli- 
gations. When this had been gratefully accom- 
plished, the transaction was universally approved 
as a wholesome example of Christian manage- 
ment. The same mother church has performed 
a number of similar feats of sanctified business 
strategy. In another city a downtown society, 
by a definite system of conditional pledges and 
loans, has promoted a score of young and thriv- 
ing churches which are the stronger and better 
because of the continued vigor and the splendid 
representative deeds of the central organization. 
The sense of responsibility and of high privi- 
lege which leads the prosperous mother church 
to promote new adventures in organization and 
in housing, impels it to furnish religious and 
financial leadership to weaker and younger so- 
cieties. A type of layman is developed within 
its fold who is broad in sympathies and repre- 
sentative in his relation to church affairs. 
Smaller and more recently established congre- 
gations can hardly be expected to produce and 

33 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

to train such men; and if they possessed them, 
they could not easily spare their presence and 
labors for general denominational movements. 
These men are frequently utilized by general 
officers of the church to aid them in connectional 
campaigns of an evangelistic, missionary, educa- 
tional, church-building or debt-paying character. 
A wealthy layman of this class, resident in an 
Eastern city, spends much of his time as an un- 
paid evangelist. Several young business men 
in a city of New York State proved themselves 
to be splendid propagandists of the cause of 
foreign missions. A Southern churchman is an 
expert in the management of congregational 
finances, and can teach local officers how to keep 
the preacher paid and how to bring up the 
general benevolences. In each case the church 
represented by one of these experienced leaders 
lends to his endeavors the prestige of its superior 
achievements, by virtue of which his words of 
counsel and of suggestion are given greatest 
weight. 

To what has been said concerning mother 
churches may be added the recollection of their 
long-continued offices in receiving young life, and 
in training it for service elsewhere, and the value 
to all the churches of having in such organiza- 
tions objects of general respect and veneration. 
In view of all this, it must appear that careful 
thought should be given to the preservation in 
unimpaired strength and activity of all well- 

34 



MOTHEK CHURCHES 

placed central churches which have not been al- 
ready sacrificed to the idols of gold, of ease or of 
indifference, and which wise management can 
retain and make useful. The denomination 
which maintains in the city's heart attractive, 
outstanding, and generously supported temples 
for the worship of God and for the welfare of 
man is certain of public cognizance, esteem, and 
power. To its own life the church which is 
fragrant \\T.th old memories, which finds an in- 
centive to manifold and serviceable activities 
both in its past history and in its present en- 
vironment, which is a fount of broad-minded and 
gracious hospitality, which affords a suitable 
site and spirit for union meetings and campaigns, 
and to which the people of many churches look 
as their mother, is a culture medium, exerting a 
cohesive and assimilative energy, preserving 
various interesting forms of religious character, 
and developing and expressing unusual Christian 
qualities. Without such sources of affectional 
and spiritual circulation it is to be doubted 
whether any of the great churches of Christen- 
dom can preserve their integrity or do their 
most effective work. Even the retention and 
adornment of ancient churches as monuments of 
a sacred past and as fanes of holy memory and 
of prayer often is of great importance to reli- 
gious life and maturity. 

Christian statesmanship seems to demand at- 
tention to this subject on the part of home mis- 

35 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

sionary and church extension boards. If organ- 
izations which control the expenditure of large 
sums of money would make the earlier and larger 
investments necessary for founding mother 
churches at strategic points, less need would 
exist for dribbling out in littles vast total sus- 
tentation funds; and the progress of the King- 
dom, which by the latter method is often delayed 
or altogether prevented, would be assured and 
much more rapid. The same wise administrators 
might also justly give much more attention to 
the needs of impoverished downtown city organ- 
izations, which with intelligent cooperation and 
leverage may be restored to a large part of their 
pristine glory, or else so adapted to changed 
conditions as to serve even a holier purpose than 
that of their first years. The mission field of 
America is fast being transferred from country 
frontiers to the burning sands and thorny 
thickets of the town. The devil will make his 
last and most stubborn stand, not on desert 
plains or on mountaintops, not beside the sea, 
or in the fertile field, but in slimy haunts of 
city vice, in modern Sodoms and Gomorrahs, 
made possible by the massing of the forces of 
iniquity and by the desertion of the Church. 

I was shown a great and ancient banyan tree, 
and I cannot soon forget the curiosity and in- 
terest, the awe and reverence which the sight 
elicited. Reflection presents the church in the 
town's heart as a wide-spreading banyan. In 

36 



MOTHEK CHUKOHES 

order that its wonderful branches may ever bend 
themselves into new soil, taking root firmly and 
passing on to new possessions and growths, the 
central trunk should be preserved and thickened 
with the accretions of the years, should be shel- 
tered by the surrounding boles, and should both 
enrich and richly enjoy the common life of the 
Christian community. 



37 



CHAPTER III 
THE CITY LAYMAN 

God founded the Church, and man makes it 
what it is. Pare down this statement, and the 
truth which it contains will but the more cer- 
tainly appear. Social institutions are not mere 
shadows of human genius and labor, but are the 
substance of the intelligences and wills which 
sustain and develop them. However divine the 
Church may be as to its origin, in every age and 
locality it is conditioned in quality and achieve- 
ments by the members of whom it is composed. 
Not even God himself can make a great church 
out of little men. 

Men were produced before preachers: laymen 
before pastors. One cannot reasonably consider 
the life and labors of the Church without refer- 
ence to the human material involved, and the 
historical order is best. We hear much of ^'the 
man behind the guns," of "the man in the 
trenches." It is said that he wins the battles, 
which is partly truth, partly exaggeration. If 
the captain is incapable, the common soldier 
miserably and unavailingly fights, and mayhap 
dies. The Church needs officers of training and 

38 



THE CITY LAYMAN 

skill, and it cannot win its campaigns without 
them : but who ever heard of an important vic- 
tory achieved by shoulder straps, without the 
aid of noncommissioned officers and men? 
Moreover, back of the forces on the firing line 
and on the field are the workers at home who 
furnish the sinews of war, in resources and in 
volunteers, in necessary labors and sacrifices. 

Without indulging in fiattery, which is too 
much the practice in addressing them, and with- 
out repeating modern foolish and mischievous 
statements which tend to make young men 
divinely called to the Christian ministry believe 
that they can serve God just as well by spending 
their lives largely in mere money grubbing as 
by preaching the gospel, it is ever more important 
to bring to the minds of laymen a vital sense of 
their value to the kingdom of Christ, and of 
their consequent responsibility. Laymen cannot 
do without preachers and pastors, and they can- 
not do without you. The members of the churches 
need God, but for the prosecution of his plans 
on the earth, God needs members of the churches. 
Who are there that are thoroughly usable, de- 
pendable, uncalculating, and untiring, "always 
abounding in the work of the Lord" ? These are 
"God's fellow workers,'' through whom he is 
building his Church. Their lives are well spent, 
for they are invested in the interest of the 
greatest cause known to the world, and which is- 
steadily making its way to ultimate complete 

39 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

triumpli. Rejoice, ye who are enlisted in this 
service, "for as much as ye know that your labor 
is not in vain in the Lord.'' 

From the days of Martha and of Mary women 
have always been ^^laymen" in the Church. 
Recent fuller recognition of their ability and 
usefulness does not impeach the record of long, 
faithful, and unreserved toil and sacrifice which 
they have given to Christian undertakings. It 
is a pity that the English language possesses no 
pronouns necessarily implying both sexes, and 
few nouns expressly including in their sweep men 
and women alike. It ought to be understood that 
in discussions of the general work of the Church, 
and of its members, nothing of the highest sig- 
nificance can be said without thought of the elect 
characters and of the many true spirits who have 
given womanly talents to the service of Christ 
ever since the days when the great apostle to the 
Gentiles appealed to his "true yokefellow," that 
he "help these women, for they labored with me 
in the gospel." 

City laymen of the first rank, as is true of a 
j majority of leaders in finance and industry, are 
• mainly of country origin. Repeatedly has this 
fact been established by canvasses of the most 
effective and prominent personages. This is the 
point at which the country church and pastor 
come most vitally into relation with the city 
problem, for they furnish not merely masses of 
young life to the centers of population, but that 

40 



THE CITY LAYMAN 

good brain and pure blood which make their way 
to the front, and which do the larger work of the 
town. Exceptions occur, of course, and in num- 
bers, but it is remarkable how great a proportion 
of the city bred reach only places of secondary 
importance in the activities of their own locali- 
ties. It is probably true that a better tendency, 
due to the influence of religious societies, is at 
present operative. The time should come when 
city lads will be less addicted than now to trivial 
pleasures, to enfeebling habits, to the desire for 
^Vhite-shirt jobs,'' and to such occupations as 
absorb time and energy without fitting them for 
advancement and for mastery. It is the youth 
who is willing to roll up his sleeves, and to 
begin if not at the bottom, wherever he can get 
a chance, and invariably it is one who will pay 
the price of success by readiness to serve, by 
serious effort to accomplish, and by study of 
present and future tasks, who finally surpasses 
his fellows, and arrives at a place of recom- 
pense and power. The country boy, and often 
the alien, will meet these tests. For this reason 
it is that the country pastor and the people 
of the little hamlet at home or abroad fre- 
quently rejoice in the consciousness of valu- 
able contributions which they have been able to 
make to city activities, including those of the 
churches, and to the great conflict for higher 
civilization. Representatively the country is in 
this fight, and with a mighty influence. 

41 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

The city layman, whether reared in urban or 
rural surroundings, is energized, at least to 
some extent, by his environment, and his facul- 
ties are aroused and sharpened. The need is 
for the brightest minds, able to contest the 
subtleties of city unbelief and godlessness, and 
the ingenuities of city vice. "A dull man," as 
Saville insists, *^is so near a dead man that he is 
hardly to be ranked in the list of the living : and 
as he is not to be buried whilst he is half alive, 
so he is as little to be employed whilst he is 
half dead." It is a brake upon the country church 
that, being obliged to use the best material at 
hand, it must sometimes employ, even in official 
capacities, the services of those who are anemic, 
obtuse, and nonprogressive. Such persons can- 
not greatly aid a city church, and would not 
last long in any prominent position. A stern 
necessity rests upon this church, for it must meet 
a strong and twofold competition, that of the 
seething worldliness and sinfulness about it, and 
that of its lively and aggressive rivals. I am not 
of those who denounce competitive schemes and 
efforts in Christian work. Every organization 
needs the spur which comes from the example 
and success of others laboring in the same field, 
and a church is no exception. The wise layman 
understands this, and places his strength of mind 
and might at the disposal of the pastor and 
people with whom he is associated in the service 
of Christ, that he may aid them to keep pace 

42 



THE CITY LAYMAN 

with modern movements, and to do their proper 
portion of the work of God. 

Two men are a grievous trial to their pastor^ — 
the one who never agrees with him and the one 
who never disagrees with him. It is hard to say 
which attitude is the more unfortunate, for 
while the first of these men is too opinionated and 
intractable, the other is too thoughtless and un- 
informing. In a vital sense the pastor is to be 
regarded as a leader, and should be respected 
as such; and just as truly the layman is a fellow 
worker and a counselor whose advice should be 
greatly desired ; but the Church of Christ is not 
the place for dictators, whether of the ministry 
or of the laity. How desirable is that intelligent, 
reasonable study of the needs and duties of 
organized Christianity which leads good men 
first to differ and then to come together on a 
program which commands the assent of a ma- 
jority! Democracy should always be preserved 
in church relations and management. Informa- 
tion and suggestion from every source should be 
made welcome. When consideration has been 
given to varying views, and action has been 
taken, is it not the spirit of unity and of hearty 
cooperation with the general will which indicates 
Christian character and which gives assurance of 
success in Christian undertakings? 

It has been wisely said that "the Christian's 
privileges lie in pronouns; but his duty in ad- 
verbs." That is to say, it is not merely honum 

43 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

that he is to consider, but heney good accom- 
plished skillfully. Christian experience and 
church membership are to be heartily enjoyed, 
but they are not to be self-consumed, lest there 
be nothing left except the name. Society rightly 
expects Christ's men — Christians — to act up to 
the relationship which they hold and to the 
power which operates through them. Even of 
your religion the unemotional world asks, coldly, 
"What does it do?" Consider, then, brother in 
Christ, how you are using your faith and how 
you are representing it to your fellow men. 

The office of the pulpit is to teach, and the 
duty of all is to live the doctrine. The life of 
Christianity is infinitely more important than 
its philosophy. It is not the theorist and pro- 
fessor who is in demand outside of school and 
church. It is right to expound principles, and 
wise is he who drinks deeply at fountains of 
instruction, but the doors of schoolroom and of 
temple open upon realms of action, where it is 
not what one has heard nor always what one 
believes that counts. Men are still following the 
example of those Athenians before whom came 
two architects soliciting the opportunity of 
erecting a public edifice. One of the candidates 
lectured eloquently upon various types of archi- 
tecture and upon the manner in which this 
building should be raised. The other architect 
contented himself with a laconic remark, "What 
my brother has spoken I can do.'*^ The work was 

44 



THE CITY LAYMAN 

given to him, and it is said that the result was 
satisfactory. 

Are not the laymen of our churches sincere in 
their purpose to follow Christ, and to work the 
works of Christian thought and training? Such 
is the conviction we hold. Relatively speaking, 
there are not many hypocrites in the Church. 
For every indubitable instance of this kind which 
can be pointed out it would not be hard to name 
a dozen cases of hypocrisy outside of church 
membership among those who are their own 
authority for the claim that they are "better 
than your church members." They admit this 
themselves : pity that so often it is undiscovered 
elsewhere, and that even the very reverse is 
proved to be the case. It is not denied that good 
men are to be found among those who have 
assumed no religious vows. These men are no 
boasters of their own virtues ; nor do churchmen 
make claim to infallibility, either in judgment 
or in act ; some of them would freely confess that 
they are much like the persons who belong to 
an Oriental club, one of whose officers, strug- 
gling to express himself in English, said : ''It is 
a very good organization, except that not all the 
members perform their performances." Never- 
theless, the churches contain the best people in 
the world, unnumbered thousands of whom are 
constant in purity, in labor, and in sacrifices, 
beyond all that the world knows or dreams. 
Need there is of a deeper work of God in their 

45 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

moral natures — desire for it, too, for many of the 
very best Christians "hunger and thirst after 
righteousness" above all that they have acquired. 
The Master's blessing is on them : "they shall be 
filled" by Him, who "is the end of the law unto 
righteousness to every one that believeth." Why 
should not every churchman use in their entirety 
the means which are given for the perfecting and 
upbuilding of Christian character, "till we all 
attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the 
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full grown 
man, unto the measure of the stature of the ful- 
ness of Christ"? 

The Christian is the world's Christ : they will 
not look at Christ ; they look at us ; and if they see 
Christ, it is because our lives reveal him. The 
man of affairs and the woman of society and of 
the home are with people daily and hourly, and 
often in the most intimate relations. This gives 
opportunity for personal ministry which the 
preacher may covet but cannot so frequently and 
unprofessionally enjoy. The preacher is an ex- 
pert, in the pulpit and in personal work also, if 
he be a right man of God. But as the vast total 
of business and of manufacture is not done by 
experts, but by laymen, by faithful workers, so 
the world will never be won to Christ by preach- 
ers only. Lay activity has its own expertness, 
its own perfections. There is no need of any 
jealousy between pulpit and pew. In his ovv^n 
sphere each may be a master workman — the 

46 



THE CITY LAYMAN 

church member and his pastor, and the result is 
one. But do Christians realize how eagerly 
their friends and associates watch them, as 
M'sieu Charley, in ^'The Eight of Way,'' watched 
the little tailor, seeking "a sign from heaven"? 
In the city the token of Christian faith and love 
must be worn openly and displayed quickly. 
Throngs are swiftly moving : they pass us in our 
places of business, in the streets, and in temples 
of worship and of pleasure, and they are gone. 
^^Whilst thou art in the way with him" give thy 
brother the "high sign" of fellowship in Christ, 
and if he does not respond, know and seek him as 
one whom God would save. If the Christians of 
America would arise in their might, and make 
a business of winning their friends and fellow 
citizens to the allegiance of Christ, such a social 
revolution would take place as no nation ever 
beheld. 

It should be clearly understood, however, that 
mere invitation and persuasion will not convert 
the masses or transform society. We want all 
men Christianized. Very well, let us treat them 
like Christians. The modern "Acts of the 
Apostles" are reasonable hours of toil, fair 
wages, life-saving devices, sanitation, good 
houses, faithful service, a just price, charity, 
friendliness, fellowship, brotherhood. Who is 
prepared for all this? The program cuts both 
ways. Manufacturers and mine-owners' associa- 
tions have a fine code for labor, and the labor 

47 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

union makes a splendid demand npon capital. 
Neither at Bagdad nor at Bozrah grows the lily, 
but between extremes, at the point where men 
meet as men, as worshipers of the one God, as 
brothers in Christ. Do the laymen of the Church 
see this, and are they prepared to accept the 
logic of their own religion? The problems are 
great, and many are perplexed as to their actual 
duties in the relations in which they stand. Let 
them do the best they can, as they find that which 
they can do. It was divine wisdom on which 
Carlyle fell back when one whom his cynical 
attacks upon human conduct and philanthropy 
had disheartened, exclaimed, ^'What then would 
you have us to do?'' "Whatsoever thy hand 
findeth to do," was the more mellow answer, "do 
it with thy might.'' 

I contend for this, that Christian men should 
seek to understand each other's views and as- 
pirations. A social leader reports that in a city 
which he visited for the purpose of stating the 
social gospel of the churches he was greeted with 
enthusiasm by the working classes, but that the 
business men of his own denomination gave 
little attention to the meetings held or to the 
themes discussed. Not right, certainly, but this 
partiality is not of one class only. Attempt to 
get a hearing for the claims of employers, and 
you will be apt to find a similar lack of interest 
among mechanics and laborers. This condition 
will continue until churchmen come to see how 

48 



THE CITY LAYMAN 

vital to the interests of Christianity in its at- 
tempts to save all men are the mutual respect 
and affection of the component elements of 
society, which may be shown not only by readi- 
ness to counsel together but by anxiety to co- 
operate for the common good. Superior intel- 
ligence and strength should be first to recognize 
the importance of this attitude, and should make 
the first and most persistent advances in the 
way of deeds of justice and generosity. If I 
were to make a special appeal, it would be for 
time and patience in the settlement of what 
seem to be real grievances as between man and 
man. In our highly organized society indi- 
viduals are to a greater or less extent creatures 
of systems and victims of circumstances. In 
matters of wages, of hours of service, and even 
of business equipment, individual employers and 
corporations may be restricted within narrow 
limits by the actions of their competitors. Simi- 
larly, members of labor organizations are some- 
times forced by the votes of others, and against 
their convictions, into unjust and inconsistent 
movements and personal conduct. It is easy to 
preach independence, but the road is not always 
as smooth as it looks. Again comes up that 
ancient and much-neglected adage with which 
Christians surely should have sympathy — "Put 
yourself in his place." The broad-minded 
recognition of situations that exist, and that 
affect the judgments and deeds of men, will keep 

49 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

churchmen together in spirit, even when they 
differ outwardly, and will help them to help 
each other into the knowledge and power which 
will correct abuses, and which will gradually 
transform industrial relations into harmony 
with the Golden Eule. And some will be daring 
enough to do right though the heavens fall, and 
by their sacrifices, if they do not hasten the day 
of social justice, they will at least have proven 
their love of God and of their fellow men. 

It is complained, and with some show of truth, 
that Christians fail to do their duty in politics, 
and that thus the baser elements of the com- 
munity are enabled to govern the cities. It is 
not surprising that many men of character, who 
have made some essay into the realm of personal 
self-seeking and of partisan pettifogging and 
strife which seem to make up the greater part 
of the conduct of those who are active in civic 
affairs, become quickly discouraged, and refuse 
to have any further connection with such asso- 
ciations and doings. Much the same experience 
comes to many even in the broader relations of 
State and national politics. Others are deterred 
from serious thought of participating in the 
direction and management of public interests by 
observation of its cost in personal comfort and 
expense. With the fear of still greater losses 
and dangers than those of means and of con- 
venience one must often deeply sympathize. An 
exceedingly able jurist, of a family distinguished 

50 



THE CITY LAYMAN 

for statecraft, confessed to the writer that his 
lifelong ambition had been to share in the execu- 
tive work of the country, "But/' said he, "I 
simply will not submit to the processes necessary 
in order to election to office.'' The few years 
which have elapsed since this statement of self- 
renunciation for the sake of moral principle was 
made have weakened the grip of the saloon 
upon the machinery of parties. In many in- 
stances the beginnings of a political career, even 
in the commonwealth in which this learned judge 
resides, may be laid without the prostitution of 
manhood before the gods of intemperance, lust, 
and greed. 

It is one thing to go into politics for the 
sake of office and honor, and it is quite a dif- 
ferent matter to seek to attain power for the 
public good. Men of intellect, social standing, 
and means may, if they will, put their hands 
upon levers which will affect righteously the 
whole life of the town. Often this influence may 
be exerted personally and quietly. The man may 
be unknown, save to the few, but the work will 
be done. The methods which "bosses" use for 
their own pockets may in part be employed by 
patriotic citizens for the right's sake. It is a 
shame that by reason of the pernicious activity of 
the one and the indifference of the other the man 
of the brewery or dive sometimes has more power 
in his little finger than the church leader pos- 
sesses in his loins. Is a better state of affairs com- 

51 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

ing? It must be confessed that, despite the mar- 
velous sweep of the prohibition movement, sur- 
face indications are not altogether favorable to 
faith in immediate political purity. In several 
recent instances whole groups of city officers, in- 
cluding mayors and judges, have been found to be 
corruptors of the electorate, and well-nigh whole 
communities have been proven purchasable. 
These cases are, indeed, extreme and exceptional. 
Some of them represent the last desperate 
struggle of the rum traffic to preserve its life, and 
some are mere reversions to type on the part of 
degenerate bodies. Over against these undoubted 
and sad evidences of delinquency and evil doing 
are tendencies toward a new civic conscientious- 
ness, which is seen in stricter laws and more 
rigid enforcement, and which brings to places of 
public usefulness young men of the new order, 
out of whom selfishness and sordidness, which 
often attend age, have not choked idealism, and 
the determination to make a better world. It is 
putting it mildly to say that the outcome of the 
latter movement depends very largely upon the 
attitude taken by men of the churches. Brothers, 
it is Christ's battle. ^'Follow !" cries the Captain 
of the good fight. The Church echoes the call, 
but can do nothing except through the action of 
its members. The less words, the more deeds. 
Some pastors and members of Preachers' Meet- 
ings and of other church bodies become exceed- 
ingly weary of resolutions on all sorts of sub- 

52 



THE CITY LAYMAN 

jects, at times with little knowledge or consider- 
ation of the facts in particular cases which are in 
hand. The Church depends too much on resolv- 
ing. It is to be noted that resolvers are often 
dissolvers when the time for doing comes. Would 
that the fact were realized that laymen in action 
are the Church in action. The word of command 
has been given — the word of justice, of honor, of 
God's will — the word whose obedience would 
remake our cities, and bring purity, prosperity, 
and happiness to the lives of the poor. "Be ye 
doers of the word, and not hearers only." 

As to work which is to be done by laymen 
within the Church itself, and in the circle of its 
associations, much is said throughout the 
chapters of this book, and no topic treated is 
without thought of them and of their needs and 
duties. Has it been sufficiently considered that a 
better ministry is impossible without a better 
laity? The saying is too strong? It cannot be 
taken back. The Christian ministry needs gener- 
ous recruiting, and from the ranks of the ablest 
young men, but this will never be without a 
higher estimate of the office and Avork of the 
preacher on the part of men and women of the 
Church. The Layman's valuation of the pulpit, 
and of pastoral labors ; his respect for the person 
and counsel of Christ's representative; his con- 
versations concerning sermons and the conduct 
of preachers, as well as about all church matters, 
increase or diminish the supply of candidates for 

53 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

holy orders. Do not blame the boys for not be- 
coming preachers of the gospel if their parents 
have little respect, not for the cloth, surely, but 
for the man clothed with a divine call and with 
a holy responsibility. If the ambitions of 
fathers, and especially of mothers, are for those 
attainments whose value is set by the dollar 
mark, how can a vocation whose emoluments are 
mainly spiritual and eternal reach the imagina- 
tion and obtain the devotion of youth? That a 
larger supply of strong and sturdy material for 
prophets unto men and priests unto God may be 
secured, let churchmen consider their own words, 
actions, and chief desires for their children. 
Nevertheless, the need is not for man-made min- 
isters. Pressure of parental authority should 
never force reluctant men into a task which of all 
others demands the prerequisite and the con- 
stantly sustaining force of personal conviction. 

The preacher, like his fellows, is an improvable 
being, unless, as sometimes occurs, his manhood 
has been swallowed up in the formalities of his 
profession. Make the preacher better by giving 
him a better hearing. Flattery spoils a preacher, 
and compliments are exercises for his grace, but 
eager listening, the sensible expression of ap- 
proval, and occasional wise suggestion of new 
thoughts, or of improved methods, put the pulpit 
on its metal. The wise layman learns to help 
without hurting, and to stand by the pastor who 
is doing his best. The error of estimating preach- 

54 



THE CITY LAYMAN 

ing and ministries by their own tastes and re- 
quirements rather than by those of congregations 
as a whole, is a sin into which the best churchmen 
do not fall. Is not "the greatest good to the 
greatest number" the rule of wisdom with refer- 
ence to the valuation of Christian w^ork? By 
using this standard of measurement unhappy dif- 
ferences and frequent changes of leadership are 
avoided, and a result is attained which, on the 
whole, is more constructive. It is often better 
to bear "the ills we have" than to "fly to others 
that we know not of." It can be demonstrated 
to the satisfaction of fair-minded persons that 
some churches always have better preachers than 
do others, although the pulpit be at times in the 
hands of very ordinary men. This is because 
the laymen of those churches are more apprecia- 
tive, more inspiring, and more worthy of the best 
and of all that a preacher can do. 

The business ability of men of affairs is what 
the Church depends upon in order that its busi- 
ness may be done in a way to command the re- 
spect of communities, and that the measure of 
success may be obtained which the situation re- 
quires and which God w^ants. This also has 
been considered in our discussion of city work, 
as have been matters of stewardship and of rela- 
tionship to general movements, not merely of 
special organizations, but of denominations and 
of Christianity. What lover of the Church is not 
jealous of the time and of the intelligent pur- 

55 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

posive application to religious affairs of the 
minds of men of superior talent and experience? 
Preoccupation with vast material concerns and 
association in business with men of larger caliber 
tend to make average church transactions look 
small and to render great laymen impatient with 
the views and methods of common church offi- 
cials. Men of this type should learn to look upon 
their experiences in Christian work with refer- 
ence to the deep significance which they hold. 
Little details of church finance may determine 
most necessary and desirable events. Eternal 
issues often swing on small hinges, and as for offi- 
cial boards of churches they should be looked 
upon as training schools for future greater deeds. 
So clearly were these truths realized by one of the 
strongest laymen I have ever known, that no 
board or committee meeting was too small in its 
apparent importance to command his attendance 
until the business had been completed. It may be 
added that it is a sin to do business when there is 
none to do, or after it has been done. 

I visited a distinguished churchman who was 
upon what proved to be his dying bed. He was 
found reading one of the earlier historical records 
of his denomination, and he entertained his caller 
with a splendid review of his researches in a field 
of investigation in which he had evidently spent 
much time. If all Christian men were students 
of church history, and systematic readers of 
church literature, more of them would become, 

56 



THE CITY LAYMAN 

like this splendid layman, invaluable to the work 
of Christ. Busy men are not too busy to do some 
reading. If they will keep on hand a few choice 
books on Christian faith and practice, and on 
ecclesiastical organization and government, if 
they will take a few church papers, including at 
least one standard journal of some denomination 
other than that to which they belong, and if they 
will dip into this literature at seasons of oppor- 
tunity, even though they can give but brief mo- 
ments to such an exercise, in the course of years 
they mil be developed in their knowledge of the 
kingdom of God, as well as in their interest 
therein, and they will greatly enlarge their 
capacity for Christian usefulness. What is 
better than this? Is it better to be the possessor 
of increasing wealth or to become a more efficient 
helper of God in the work of saving humanity? 
And in eternity which will the more avail, to 
leave behind one a list of business organizations 
and of secular fraternities with which he was 
identified and to which he gave his strength, or 
to possess forever a record of wise and devoted 
service to the interests of Christ's kingdom 
among men? 

It is left with the laymen ! And the preachers 
and the whole Church are left with the laymen, 
for their thought and action : as they go, we go, 
forward or backward, up or down. Of course 
individual salvation may be wrought out as a 
purely personal matter, and equally certain is it 

57 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

that unaided one may accomplisli some good 
and valuable service, but for the highest results 
in Christian work "we are members one of an- 
other.'' Therefore, as Saint Paul nobly charges, 
"having gifts differing, according to the grace 
that was given to us, whether prophecy, let us 
prophesy according to the proportion of our 
faith; or ministry, let us give ourselves to our 
ministry; or he that teacheth, to his teaching; 
or he that exhorteth, to his exhorting; he that 
giveth, let him do it with liberality ; he that rul- 
eth, with diligence ; he that showeth mercy, with 
cheerfulness. Let love be without hypocrisy. 
Abhor that which is evil ; cleave to that which is 
good. In love of the brethren be tenderly affec- 
tioned one to another; in honor preferring one 
another; in diligence not slothful; fervent in 
spirit; serving the Lord.'' 



68 



CHAPTER IV 

THE BRINK OF THE CRATER 

An unusually thrilling photograph of Vesuvius 
shows a sky line of spectators standing fearfully 
upon the brim of the great orifice of the volcano, 
an opening three thousand feet in circumference 
and eight hundred in diameter. A portion of the 
floor of the crater is also seen, with smoke-filled 
depths unrevealed and threatening. This real- 
istic picture has a powerful effect upon the 
imagination, even of the most intrepid. The 
mind is impressed with a sense of awe, and of 
foreboding, and with the hope that some one 
will advise venturesome spirits to beware of risk- 
ing their lives too near such a frightful abyss. 
This office, as all travelers know, is fulfilled by 
the Italian guides, and especially by scientists 
who dwell in the observatory far up the slopes of 
the mountain, and whose duty it is to record 
changes in volcanic conditions, and to warn of 
impending eruptions and perils. Their work is 
performed at much hazard, and it has not been 
unattended by casualties. In 1872 a wave of 
lava encircled the observatory with a sea of fire. 

59 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

Several persons who had gathered near the place 
lost their lives, but the director, Palmieri, was 
preserved. "Would you remain through another 
such eruption ?" he was asked. "Certainly,'' said 
he, "my life belongs to science. If the observ- 
atory falls, I wish to fall with it." The work 
of Professor Matteucci, and of the eminent Amer- 
ican volcanologist, F. A. Perret, is well known. 
These men have often periled themselves for the 
sake of their researches. In 1906 the observatory 
was bombarded for many hours from above and 
below by lava and earthquakes, the house rocking 
so violently that its inhabitants could cross the 
room only by steadying themselves with their 
hands against the walls. The top of the moun- 
tain was covered with darkness for eight black 
days. In 1914 it was announced in press dis- 
patches that Mr. Perret had been killed by fall- 
ing lava while investigating the eruption of that 
year, but he was later found to have escaped 
death by the fraction of a second. In every 
great period of volcanic activity in Italy through- 
out many years, and once in Japan when Sakure- 
shima was in the throes of violence, Mr. Perret 
gathered materials which enabled him to foretell, 
sometimes months in advance, when an eruption 
would occur, and even to determine and announce 
the length of time for the continuance of a par- 
oxysm. Variations in intensity of eruptions have 
been noted which it is said will ultimately save 
thousands of lives of persons who may thus be 

60 



THE BRINK OP THE CRATER 

warned at seasons of danger, and early enough to 
enable them to seek places of refuge. 

At one time or another almost every one has 
visited the crater's edge which yawns in the 
center of the city. It is the verge of the pit which 
is bottomless, and which burns with fire and 
brimstone. Shelley's well known lines declare: 

Hell is a city much like London, 

A populous and a smoky city. 
There are all sorts of people undone, 
And there is little or no fun done — 

Small justice shown, and still less pity. 

This passage, if not very poetical in its concep- 
tion and imagery, is certainly truthful in its 
description of certain parts of the world's great 
metropolis. But hell is not confined to London. 
In all its unfathomableness and hideousness it 
exists in every municipality, even the smallest, 
and its fumes and forked flames, which are to 
some an idle jest, are death- dealing to others. 
The presence of the city's Inferno is not to be 
ignored by wisdom and goodness. Not for idle 
pleasure, however, should any haunt its environs. 
The habit of going slumming is both despicable 
and perilous. Those w^ho, without worthy ade- 
quate purpose, seek the sight of evil are in danger 
of being attracted and deceived by its novelty 
and brilliancy, by the increasing curiosity which 
it arouses, and by their own latent unsuspected 
depravity. They "first endure, then pity, then 

61 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

embrace.'' Angels have fallen by going to see the 
devil. 

In order to seek their improvement, some one 
must study civic conditions, and many must know 
enough about the hazardous places in society to 
conduct those whose desire for information will 
not otherwise be satisfied to and from the place 
of understanding in safety. Good men and 
women of the churches act as guides and helpers 
to their younger and simpler associates. They 
do not accompany the weak into the depths of 
iniquity, lest they should lose them from their 
very sides through some hot fissure, suddenly 
widening beneath their feet. By their counsels 
and descriptions they take their children, friends, 
and comrades in toil up the mount of vision, 
showing them the frightful dangers of vice, and 
seeking to bring them away with an indelible 
and salutary knowledge of what they have es- 
caped. This work ought to be better and more 
faithfully done. If she had been forewarned, 
the young girl would have died rather than enter 
the saloon where she was drugged and wronged. 
If he had known what wickedness he might meet, 
the lad whom the depraved woman invited into 
her house as he was passing on his way to school 
would have escaped loathsome and ultimately 
fatal poison. If some one had made him realize 
the end of the gambler, the trusted employee of 
a noted business house might have kept out of 
prison and might have saved his friends from 

62 



THE BRINK OF THE CRATER 

broken hearts. If — but the list is almost endless. 
What need of moral guidance the city presents I 
And where shall it be found if not among those 
whom Christ has appointed to be the light of the 
world? 

The city preacher is a scientific expert. The 
college professor lives in a quiet university town, 
or passes much of his time in the calm precincts 
of libraries and of laboratories. He may study 
sociology and write valuable books. He per- 
forms the inestimable service of preparing select 
youth for the battle and service of life. He rarely 
lives, like the city pastor, upon the shoulder of 
the volcano of seething human struggle and sin. 
The preacher daily hears the rumble and groans 
of earthly passions, he smells the sulphurous 
gases of temptation, he feels the heat of internal 
destructions, he has a confessional, to which come 
the bruised and scarred whom he may yet help to 
save from death. His function is that of watcher, 
warner, and friend of humanity in all its forms 
and states of good and of evil. 

The requirement for city preachers is a strong, 
fearless, intelligent, sympathetic manhood. This 
is a high standard, and one which is not always 
realized, but w^herever it is actually met a man 
is "as a covert from a tempest," even of lava 
and scoria. He guides the guides, who are them- 
selves sometimes drawn into close association 
with evil. The preacher makes a serious mistake 
to be always warning. The pulpit which deals 

63 



THE CHUECH IN THE CITY 

carefully but courageously with public matters, 
only denouncing when the fitting time has come, 
or when wisdom and righteousness are exasper- 
ated beyond measure, will exert unexpected and 
availing power. It was a modest city pastor in 
a relatively unimportant church who wrought 
a reform in the customs of a civic body by an- 
nouncing indignantly to his people, ^^The 
Chamber of Commerce is about to go on its 
annual drunk.'' The sentence was too good to 
keep, and the rebuke was so keen and truthful 
that it pierced the conscience of the better busi- 
ness element. "Annual drunks" were elimi- 
nated. Another city preacher effectively rebuked 
the school board, which had hired a saloonkeeper 
as a night-school teacher. The woman's clubs 
and civic leagues protested. The preacher at- 
tended the meeting of the board at which the 
contest was to be heard. The next Sunday morn- 
ing he described the meeting, the language used, 
and the spirit which was shown, and he declared 
that that school board was the kind of body 
which might be expected to do the sort of work 
then going on. One of the sentences of this dis- 
course was made the headline of a leading daily 
paper next morning. "The School Board Exhibit 
A in Contest Against Appointment." The article 
which followed was widely read, and on Tuesday 
night the board rescinded its action and dis- 
missed the rumseller. In achieving this result 
the work of various public organizations was 

64 



THE BRINK OF THE CRATER 

effective, the newspapers deserved praise, but, in 
the opinion of many people, it was the sermon 
reported which was the deciding factor in mak- 
ing the appointment too difficult to be sustained. 
Vice bulletins prepared by still another city 
preacher for the use of a reform organization 
were so effectively done as to lead to the obliter- 
ation of a deadly red-light area. None of these 
preachers were known as sensationalists. Two 
of them had considerable reputation for conserv- 
atism. When careful men speak carefully but 
unsparingly about grievous wrongs they some- 
times furnish the precise word needed in order to 
move that most influential, but uncertain force, 
public sentiment, which always, when sufficiently 
aroused, gets its way; but the constant agitator 
and exploiter of himself and of his views very 
rarely moves the mass or achieves any definite 
result. 

Such incidents as have just been described, 
however necessary and fruitful, are of little im- 
portance in comparison with the steady work of 
moral instruction which the average city pulpit 
maintains. Both the social life and the business 
of every town owe a debt of gratitude to its 
preachers of righteousness for services whose full 
extent are doubtless as invaluable as they are 
immeasurable. Worship is cleansing, and every 
message which lifts the minds of men to the con- 
templation of wisdom, holiness, and love is a 
virtuous force. Every city preacher should be a 

65 



THE CHUECH IN THE CITY 

mystic, with a daily sense of God. He will avail 
little, if in the rush and roar which deafen and 
deaden he does not hear ^'sl still small voice" 
speaking words of life. He must pray for spir- 
itual faith and sanctuary in the fine rapture of 
Matthew Arnold 

Calm soul of all things! Make it mine 

To feel, amid the city's jar, 
That there abides a place of thine, 

Man did not make, and cannot mar. 

This Christ-called man, who is both prophet 
and seer, both dreamer and doer, both earthly 
saint and divine messenger, has a place in the 
world worthy of heavenly inspiration, and full of 
values. The Christian pulpit is not a throne, 
which is something that is passing; it is not a 
platform or a stage for orators and actors; it 
is a power-house, creating activities, present 
and remote, and throwing light into darkened 
places. 

It is necessary to resist the pressure of those 
who would have the preacher always condemning 
I sin, and who, providing he is not too personal in 
the case of members of his own congregation, 
very much admire him for muckraking. His 
"thrillers'' will be applauded, but he must keep 
on thrilling, or the result is ennui. There is a 
time for all things, but most of the preacher's 
labor in the pulpit should be given to teaching, 
and the timeless lessons of scriptural doctrine 
and deeds and the age-long wisdom of Christian 

66 



THE BKINK OF THE CKATER 

principles and practices are the substance of 
good preaching. If those who hear can forget the 
preacher, so mnch the better. In a sense the man 
is the message, but art or eccentricity may 
swallow up both. Given a man who forgets him- 
self in order to bring to the people divine truth, 
and many surrender other objects of desire that 
they may possess this wisdom. Light, heat, and 
actinism are all needed in city pulpits, but none 
of these in a vacuum. The great city preachers 
have been men of moving — Chalmers, Guthrie, 
Whyte; Spurgeon, Maclaren, Hugh Price 
Hughes; Beecher, Hall, Taylor; Cuyler, New- 
man, Phillips Brooks. These men preached the 
marrow of the gospel, as do all the preachers 
worth "listening after.'' It was their life, and 
they breathed lightnings and thundered, but not 
with mere noise. God gave them a word, and they 
served it warm — not lukewarm, to be rejected. 
They orbed themselves and fused God into it. 
Therefore they were heard and heeded. As the 
voice of Fra Girolamo floated out from the 
Duomo and stirred Florence, so the warnings, 
entreaties, the prayers and challenges of the 
sincere preacher make their way through the 
twentieth-century city. It is never a lifeless town 
which has a Savonarola in it. But what the 
world needs is not one high pulpit ^T.th a sublime 
prophet, but many low pulpits T^ith great, true 
souls on the level, men who are in close contact 
with city life, and who work together, like the 

67 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

pipes of an organ, to attain divine symphonies 
of thought and action. 

Cold type can never take the place of a white- 
hot preacher. The printed page has an abiding, 
place in teaching, but there is needed the tremolo 
of a voice, a flashing eye, an uplifted hand. 
Cities have grown so large that single personal- 
ities are swallowed up. A few, and not always 
the right ones, stand out above the throng, but 
the others are not lost. They are down there in 
the multitude breaking the bread of life and 
feeding miraculous fishes to famishing souls. 
They are busy and useful, and never were men 
more gifted and powerful. No single human in- 
fluence is greater than that of Christian min- 
isters. They are believed, if they are not always 
followed. Better that books should be burned 
up and newspapers forgotten than that preachers 
should cease to proclaim, "Thus saith the Lord." 

But the ethical influence of the minister of 
Christ is by no means confined to the sacred desk 
and to the Lord's Day. As an adviser of men of 
affairs, especially with reference to questions of 
right and wrong, he is often highly valued and 
much consulted. If he is a deeply conscientious 
as well as a courageous man, he sometimes ven- 
tures to volunteer his counsel, even to men upon 
whose good will his position and success largely 
depend. The representative of Jesus Christ 
ought always to be kindly and courteous in his 
dealings with individuals, but if he is not will- 

68 



THE BRINK OF THE CKATER 

ing to risk Ms own interests to encourage justice 
and purity, and to rebuke evil in the conduct 
of Ms officials and members, lie is not worthy of 
his calling, or true to Him who requireth judg- 
ment and righteousness as well as love. There is 
nothing much meaner or more hateful than is the 
attitude of the preacher who is always baiting ^ 
and bullying men whose responsibilities and ! 
problems are deeper than his comprehension or / 
broader than his sympathy. In some commu- 
nities it is a popular task to belittle, or even to 
abuse, men of large affairs and of complicated 
and difficult duties and relationships. This is 
going to an extreme which is not less disastrous 
to the public than is fawning flattery in the pres- 
ence of moral obliquity. Demagogues in broad- 
cloth have sometimes driven or kept out of the 
church those to whom they might have become 
prophets of righteousness, and through whom 
they could have served the interests of thousands 
of their fellowmen. It requires divine grace to 
become a monitor of conscience to the strong. 
To seize the reins of a powerful man's conduct, 
and to guide his course to Avise and benevolent 
ends, is not merely a "man's job," it is the work 
of a "man of God" without partiality and with- 
out hypocrisy. Capitalists, labor leaders, states- 
men, journalists, and financial magnates are not 
beyond the reach of preachers of the gospel in 
whom they can and do believe. If the history of 
the human soul could be written, a very consid- 

69 



THE CHUECH IN THE CITY 

erable weight of influence tending toward the 
amelioration of human woes, and toward the 
creation of social values, would be seen to have 
proceeded from the personal ministries of wise 
and trusted Christian seers, who have studied 
men and measures from an unselfish and nonpar- 
tisan viewpoint, and who exude sage counsel 
when the opportunity is given or can be justly 
made. 

I am sorry for the preacher who does not have 
moral weaklings and dependents hanging about 
him, or who fails to recognize and to have com- 
passion for them as such. These also are "little 
ones" whose Father is not willing that they 
should perish, and to make whom to olfend is 
worse than to have a millstone hanged about the 
neck and to be cast into the sea. Jesus was sur- 
rounded by the simple, the obtuse, the frail, the 
maimed and crooked, the diseased and fallen, the 
mentally and spiritually insane. What a drain 
upon his vital forces these imperfect and unlovely 
I creatures must have been ! No wonder he some- 
I times sent the multitudes away from him, not 
• because he was tired of them, but because his 
human nature was exhausted, and needed to be 
replenished by meditation and by communion 
with the Father. Withdrawal from the responsi- 
|bilities of strength is often necessary, and Jesus 
thus teaches, both by his example and by the 
counsel to his disciples when they had done 
enough : "Come ye apart into a desert place and 

70 



THE BEINK OF THE CKATER 

rest awhile.'' But always he was pitiful and 
tolerant. Before and after his brief seasons of 
refreshment he suffered the needy and the un- 
wholesome to come near him, he patiently bore 
with their complaints and with their folly, and 
he gave himself to their relief. 

The man who is on the brink of the crater must 
listen to many a sorrowful tale, and he must be 
reason and principle for many thoughtless and 
unprincipled. Why they come to him he often 
wonders. That is because he does not compre- 
hend how w^eak and helpless human nature often 
is. In his confessional he becomes, like the 
family physician, but often with reference to 
more vital matters than physical maladies, the 
repository of secrets. Some come to him smell- 
ing of the pit's mouth w^here they have been 
loitering, and he finds that some are sadly 
singed and burned by the flames of hell. The 
preacher at the heart of the town learns to be sur- 
prised at nothing, and to be ready promptly to 
give "first aid." The young lad comes in the 
horror of his deed and of himself to acknowledge 
impurity. The thief confides to Christ's min- 
ister his defalcation, and desires advice as to 
confession, repayment, and restoration of char- 
acter. The gambler comes, and the drunkard, 
often seeking but the price of further indulgence, 
and not to be trusted with the means of new sins. 
Parents come pleading for help for wayward 
children. Business men reveal facts connected 

71 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

with intimate partnership relations, and ask for 
prayer and encouragement. Politicians come, 
craftily or sincerely seeking friendship. Worried 
widows, and worse than widows, request counsel 
concerning financial affairs. Victims of swind- 
lers, of legal and medical shysters, of loan sharks, 
and of false employers, relate bitter experiences. 
Frauds and failures, criminals and insane, and 
the woman of shame come to the office of the 
downtown preacher, and they go away again 
better for their interview with the keeper of con- 
sciences, the friend of the people, the one man of 
importance who will give himself and his time 
to the neediest, and to the least interesting or 
hopeful, without pay. It is a great adventure. 
The man who does this work, to use the figure of 
an interesting writer, is in the business of drains, 
and he will sometimes find his task as unpleas- 
ant and dangerous as that which Mr. Kennedy's 
significant drama represents Robert as having 
found for his brother as well as for himself : 

Robert. "Muck, ma'am! Just look at my 'ands! — Aint 
that pretty? Talk abaht bee-utiful! That bit was on'y an 
ash-pan! Look 'ere, ma'am, I got the loveliest little job 
on as ever yer soiled yer 'ands in! Talk abaht corfins an' 
shrouds an' bones an' dead men gone to rot, they wasn't in 
it. I never thought there could be such a lot o' muck an' 
dead things all in one place before! It was a fair treat, 
it was, I tek my oath! Why — why, it may cost a man 'is 
LIFE to deal with that little job." 

Vicar. My God, the thing's impossible! 

Robert. Impossible! means a bit of work that's all! 

Vicar. Why, no one would ever dare — 
72 



THE BRINK OF THE CRATER 

Robert. Dare! Why, wot d'you think I come 'ere for? 

Vicar. You! 

Robert. Yus — makin' myself unpleasant . . , 

Vicar. Do you mean ... Do I understand . . . 

Robert. I mean as I've found my place, or I don't know 
a good thing when I see it. 

Vicar. Then — you mean to go? 

Robert. By 'Eaven, yus! 

Vicar. Then, by all the powers of grace, you shall not 
go alone. Now, if you're ready, comrade: you and I to- 
gether! 

The dual character of the task of the central 
city preacher increases both his responsibility 
and his interest. The man closest to the crater's 
edge has the support of pastors and people in the 
farther, safer, cleaner city, and he helps to keep 
the people of the town safe and clean. His work 
is conservative as w^ell as redemptive, and each 
end of the field is made useful to the other. As a 
trained observer he reports perils to be shunned, 
and he directs movements of moral guidance. 
No other arrangement could be so helpful or so 
far-reaching in its value to society. The expe- 
rience which this man gains gives him a sure hold 
upon the know^ledge of human nature and of the 
motives by which it is influenced. From his 
vantage-point he sees afar, above the multitudes 
and across the valleys of life. Truth becomes 
clarified and universal in its sweep. The sea of 
destiny stretches away to ^dde horizons, dotted 
with blue islands of hope, which are touched by 
the prows of adventurous ships. The vision lifts 
the seer to new heights of understanding and of 

73 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

interpretation, and it enlarges Mm to new 
statures of power. He is the more able to bear 
responsibilities of human confidence and need the 
longer he abides at the edge of the crater with the 
fear of God and the love of men in his heart. 

Yet the prophet may lose his gift. Some have 
dwelt so long in the presence of danger and of 
evil that they have lost the sense of their reality. 
When the man of God no longer shudders at the 
sinfulness of sin, and when he loses moral con- 
cern, accompanied by interest in individual 
crises, his tongue cleaves to the roof of his mouth, 
his arm of strength is withered and blasted, and 
virtue has departed from him. It were better that 
the side of the crater open, and engulf that false 
and useless watchman of the Lord who warns 
not the people. His blood shall be upon him, as 
the Scripture declares : ^'If thou warn the wicked, 
and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from 
his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but 
thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, when a 
righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, 
and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block 
before him, he shall die: because thou hast not 
given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and 
his righteousness which he hath done shall not 
be remembered; but his blood will I require at 
thine hand." 

That the side of the crater does sometimes open 
and swallow the observer some who have wit- 
nessed these disasters have cause to know. The 

74 



THE BRINK OF THE CRATER 

strain of downtown ministry is terrible, and 
sometimes weakens the mind and will. Ministers 
of the gospel have become deranged by reason of 
the weight of the burdens and confidences re- 
posed upon them for continual years. Others 
have lost their courage for the fight against 
iniquity, and have become time servers, not last- 
ing long in the heart of the town, however, for 
your city people soon detect the hollow tone of 
such prophets, and will not tolerate them. Still 
others shrink and crumble in manliness under the 
double pressure and associations of their task, 
and at length fall to pieces in moral ruin. These 
tragedies, while they should inspire the greater 
hatred of wickedness, and loathing of the influ- 
ences which bring it about, nevertheless call for 
profound pity and sorrow of heart. Alas, that one 
should turn traitor to himself, and thus to God 
and man ; that he should strike down at a blow, 
or at all, the fair fabric of good life and labor; 
that he should turn backward the current of his 
years, and defeat the noblest aims and struggles 
of his soul ! Tread softly by the graves of these 
sad failures, and mourn them. 

What of the preacher who is carried down to 
failure and to shame by the malice and sin of 
others? The edge of the crater is sometimes a 
place of disaster to a pure heart and a spotless 
name, and that Tvdthout indiscretion or fault of 
the victim. In not a few instances friends of the 
saloon, exasperated by some aggressive attack 

75 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

upon their unrighteous and unlawful behavior, 
have conspired to destroy an intrepid opponent. 
Sometimes he has been assaulted and arrested, 
and in some cases he has been slain. But far 
more awful are the infamous slanders by which 
the best of men have been overwhelmed and de- 
stroyed. Burning lava is not hotter or more 
malicious than is the tongue of malice. The 
infamy of the author of lies which assail char- 
acters and despoil reputations is not lessened by 
the charge that the victim has not been wise in 
the method of his contest against intemperance 
and lawbreaking. The possibility of such an out- 
come as part of the price we pay to dethrone pow- 
ers which are pernicious and deadly, and must be 
reckoned with by every zealous spirit. It is a 
man's duty to be discreet, and not to incur un- 
necessary and fruitless enmities, but it is a 
craven coward who strikes no blow against in- 
stitutions and individuals whose conduct and 
contagion are toppling whole Herculaneums and 
Pompeiis into perdition. 

Corrupt politicians, whose treachery and con- 
nivance with licentiousness and crime he has de- 
nounced, have more than once contrived to silence 
an honest and determined preacher. Women of 
the tenderloin Avere actually induced to accuse 
of impurity a minister who had publicly criti- 
cized a corrupt police administration. Another 
preacher was informed that a mass of trumped-up 
evidence had been prepared and buttressed with 

76 



THE BRINK OF THE CRATER 

affidavits connecting him with a crime of such 
a nature that he preferred to resign rather than 
to subject his family to a most unpleasant 
scandal. The struggle for civic decency has had 
its martyrs as well as its victims. Moreover, 
city pastors have sometimes been made the prey 
of mere blackmailers, who seeing how easy it is 
to rob a preacher of his one great asset, a good 
name, have threatened or assailed him for their 
own profit. God knows the heart, and those who 
are persecuted for righteousness' sake, or who go 
down in the strife for human goodness, have 
their reward. They are blood brothers of Him 
who, sinless, took upon himself the sins of others, 
and was shamefully crucified. Christ arose from 
the grave of a malefactor, and from its infamy, 
and is crowned in glory. And the modern martyr 
will shine with his Lord in the city which hath 
foundations in justice and holiness, which is 
without curse, and whose commendations and 
satisfactions are eternal. 



77 



CHAPTER V 
THE METROPOLITAN PASTOR 

The pulpit work of city ministers, however 
striking and important it may be, represents but 
one phase of their useful activity, and that one 
not the most intimate and personal. Whether the 
city be a bustling little county seat of ten or 
fifteen thousand population, a swollen town of 
two or three hundred thousand, or a municipality 
running into millions of inhabitants, the preacher 
in its heart is a kind of metropolitan bishop and 
shepherd of souls. In this office he has a distinct 
place and function in the community and one 
which is of the highest value. Some further dis- 
cussion of city pastoral labor may prove to be 
suggestive and timely. 

The time of the metropolitan pastor is con- 
gested with engagements which are very exacting. 
Many of his tasks and appointments are made 
for him, whether he wills or not. He is liable to 
all kind of interruptions, justified and inexcus- 
able. He is subject to the telephone and to the 
doorbell, which must be answered, however im- 
portant may be his immediate occupation, unless 
he is willing to incur the risk of making an 
enemy or of failing to get some valuable oppor- 

78 



THE METROPOLITAN PASTOE 

tunity to be of service. One of the busiest of city 
preachers had great difficulty to control his ex- 
pression when a rather intelligent looking busi- 
ness man from a neighboring town sauntered into 
his office on one of his most strenuous mornings, 
sank into a chair, and remarked, ^^I have a half 
hour before my train, and I thought I would 
drop in and visit with you.'' The pastor was 
sorry that the railway station was so near, but 
he courteously and pardonably composed his 
features into a semblance of delight, and entered 
upon an expenditure of sorely needed time, from 
which, try as he might, he was able to extract 
little, either in the way of information received 
or of good accomplished. The regular bore comes 
also at frequent periods, saying : "I have a matter 
to talk to you about which requires an hour. A 
few minutes will not do." Since he cannot kill 
this creature by kindness, and may not properly 
slay him outright, the hour is sacrificed to idle 
gossip, or to the discussion of some impractical 
theory. Comes the book agent, fertile in devices 
for getting in and for getting the minister in ; the 
insurance man also and the promoter, who seems 
to have a sixth sense to tell him when the pastor's 
salary has been raised. The applicant for aid, 
often but not always an arrant humbug; the 
solicitor of indorsements and recommendations, 
frequently undeserved; the vender of subscrip- 
tion lists, the organizer of new societies for ex- 
ploiting a charitable public, together with a 

79 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

multitude of worthy and pressing persons and 
interests, seek the metropolitan pireacher, call 
him on the telephone, write him at length, wire 
him to meet them at inconvenient times and 
places, use up his time and distract his mind in 
an endless variety of ways. 

The city pastor must prepare sermons, deliver 
addresses, speak at banquets, conduct funerals, 
and give unexceptionable interviews to the news- 
papers, when they consult him suddenly on the 
happenings of the day. What a burden is the list 
of committees on which he is appointed by his 
denomination, and by various religious and civic 
bodies, and which are often composed of those 
very composed individuals who come late, talk 
leisurely about everything except the matter in 
hand, and are well satisfied to continue meeting 
until the next hunger spell. If business firms 
did business as average church, philanthropic, 
and reform committees conduct their affairs, 
they would never get into much competition with 
each other. It is, of course, impossible to refuse 
to serve on committees and boards for certain 
purposes, however unbusinesslike may be their 
management ; but these duties may become great 
time-losers, as may be also banquets, lectures, and 
other offices of entertainment, or, at best, of in- 
struction. Exceptions must be made because of 
special needs and relations, but the preacher 
who does much of the latter kind of thing is 
thereby advertising the fact that he is not a very 

80 



THE METKOPOLITAN PASTOR 

busy man in the real work of the ministry. Al- 
most invariably such a man is a poor organizer 
and executive, and rarely does he approach effec- 
tiveness as a pastor. 

A very vital error in the case of any minister 
of Christ is to suppose that his pastoral duties 
are unimportant, and that their discharge con- 
stitutes a concession to public opinion and to 
long-established custom. The metropolitan 
preacher is especially liable to this fallacious con- 
ception of the matter, and this is one of the most 
frequent causes of failure in the ministry. For 
a time an unusually brilliant pulpit and platform 
man may make an apparent success without 
kno^^ing his own people, or seeking to become 
acquainted with others. In exceptional localities 
a church may be kept thriving by the tourist 
trade. Show pulpits exist in some of the very 
largest cities. They are supported mainly by 
country attendants and accessions, and they 
doubtless sometimes perform a teaching func- 
tion of value. The press gives these pulpits 
especial attention, and their incumbents bear 
household names. They are enriched by great 
salaries with unusual perquisites and by the 
addition of large sums for special addresses 
and lectures, for such preachers are free to go 
where they like, except for reasonably regular 
appearances on Sunday during the popular sea- 
son. By their writings and interviews these 
metropolitans affect the public mind concern- 

81 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

ing matters of general interest, and thus do a 
good service, which is counterbalanced, if not 
outweighed, by the fact that the majority of 
such men seem to be erratic and unreliable, while 
some of them are exceedingly unsafe theolog- 
ically and socially. The truth is that almost 
invariably the most independent, constructive, 
and useful ministers, even of cities of the first 
class, are those less widely known and quieter 
men who are workers as well as talkers and 
writers, and who are even more eminent in the 
minds of those who know them in personal pas- 
toral relations than are others in the view of the 
populace. 

The preacher who wishes, at whatever cost to 
himself, to do the greatest measure of good among 
his fellow men, will never surrender his pastoral 
office, even to a capable assistant. The latter 
is a very hard man to find, and when he is discov- 
ered, whole ranges of pastoral opportunities and 
relationships are beyond his reach as an assist- 
ant to another man, from whom the people feel 
that they have a right to expect service of this 
nature, and to whom they look as being the head 
of the parish. Assistants are invaluable when 
used as labor-savers and helpers, and to so con- 
serve the time of the minister that he need not 
neglect those functions of intimate personal serv- 
ice which are his highest use. 

It requires determination and system to enable 
one who has so many interruptions and claims 

82 



THE METROPOLITAN PASTOE 

upon time as has the city pastor to remain a stu- 
dent, and also to become a good friend and care- 
taker to the people. Fortunate indeed is the 
preacher who does not come into the wear and 
tear of exceptional responsibility until he has 
accumulated a good stock of sermonic material, 
not in the form of outlines and manuscripts 
merely, although these rightly adapted have their 
place, but in much study and thought, in a well- 
marked library, and in an assemblage of books, 
and of citations, quotations, and fragmentary 
ideas gleaned from many hours of reading and of 
reflection. Such a man has a reservoir for every 
emergency, and the discipline he has attained 
also aids him to concentrate, and to prepare well 
quickly from new sources, or from collections of 
the past. Such men are like swift bees in the 
exercise of their mental faculties: they gather 
honey rapidly, as they dart from page to page, or 
from thought to thought, and in many instances 
they produce as efficiently as do others who work 
with the utmost deliberateness. 

A few hours for morning study, a few for after- 
noon visitation, and a few for evening meetings 
and for leisure is the rough outline of a faithful 
ministerial life. But into this monotony what 
splendid deeds may be injected, what errands of 
love and sympathy, what visitations of the sick 
and of the poor, what intelligent charities and 
encouragements of the struggling and of the 
aspiring, what moral strivings, what religious 

83 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

instructions, what recruitings for the service of 
Christ, and for undertakings of hutnan love ! It 
is a work surpassing all others in its thrilling 
interest, and in the complicated qualities of mind 
and of heart which it elicits and employs. It is 
also an exhausting task, especially that portion 
of it which requires hand to hand work with the 
evils which afflict the human spirit, and which 
demand the skill of the Christian pathologist and 
therapist. Physical weariness is nothing as 
compared with the effects of nervous tension, 
and with the expenditure of vital force, which 
accompanies the attempt to give out strength, 
and to lift dead weights of weakness, which 
pastoral visitation requires. No wonder so many 
preachers suffer from neuralgia, neuritis, in- 
somnia, and heart failure. Like their great 
Master, they are men of sorrows and acquainted 
with grief, they bear the afflictions and sins of 
many, and they give themselves an offering for 
the needy, for the oppressed, and even for trans- 
gressors. Who that has spent much time in the 
homes of men, and in their places of toil, and who 
has inspired sufficient confidence in his character 
and in his knowledge to become a trusted coun- 
selor of the people, but has had hours of over- 
whelming fatigue, and even of such shock and 
dismay as came to Henry Drummond as the 
result of his interviews and correspondence with 
students, and as the fruit of his experience in 
the work of dealing with individual weaknesses 

84 



THE METROPOLITAN PASTOR 

at the hour of spiritual awakening? Dr. George 
Adam Smith, the biographer of this remarkable 
Christian leader, makes this statement: ^'It is 
safe to say that no man in our generation can 
have heard confession more constantly than 
Drummond did. And this responsibility, about 
which he was ever as silent as about his own 
inner struggles, was a heavy burden and a sore 
grief to him. If some of the letters he received 
be specimens of the confidence poured into his 
ears, we can understand him saying, as he did to 
one friend, ^Such tales of woe I've heard in 
Moody's inquiry room that I felt I must go and 
change my very clothes after the contact' ; or to 
another, when he had come from talking privately 
with some students : 'O, I am sick with the sins of 
these men! How can God bear it?' " It is the 
glory of God that he does bear the sins of men, 
and the suffering of contact and of intimate con- 
versation with erring, sinful, vicious mortals for 
their good is one of the ways in which men 
become ''God's fellow workers." 

No rule of exact time and treatment can be 
sensibly applied to the cure of souls. For be it 
understood that the servant of Christ goes not to 
places of contact with human conditions and 
problems as an idle caller, to gossip, and to waste 
time, or even to visit parishioners, neighbors, and 
fellow-citizens as a personal friend and well- 
wisher. He goes as a representative of the Divine 
Teacher, Healer, and Helper, or he goes not 

85 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

wisely and well. He has, it is true, as Jesus had, 
a ministry for the body, and for the temporal life. 
A good pastor often gives such sound advice, 
such shrewd suggestions, or such proffers of per- 
sonal aid as prove to be of great material worth. 
One preacher showed a business man an oppor- 
tunity he was letting slip, and by accepting which 
he enriched himself and his family. Another 
good counselor taught a medical practitioner 
without patients how he might make his way to 
the front in his profession. A third saved a 
woman's life by a suggestion which her doctor 
had overlooked. This was so wisely done that the 
medical man was not offended. In numerous 
other cases children of the household have been 
encouraged, and aided to secure education or 
position, the indolent and careless have been 
taught to make their homes clean and healthful, 
and the discouraged, the selfish, and the helpless 
have been lifted to new places of vantage and of 
power. 

All of this is, however, introductory or 
supplementary to the attainment of those moral 
ends which are of chief value to human life, and 
which it is the office of the Christian minister 
to seek. Whatever word or deed gives to him 
some deeper leverage of respect and of affection 
to be applied to the work of character production 
and development, as well as of moral redemption, 
will be sought and used by the effective pastor. 
He will not spare himself, either in proving his 



THE METROPOLITAN PASTOR 

ability and friendship, or in using these qualities 
for the good of his charges. 

A city preacher boasted that he could make 
an enormous number of parochial visits in a brief 
period of time, and thus get that uncomfortable 
duty out of the way speedily, and for some 
months at least. He also declared that he could 
make his calls within the space of three minutes 
from sidewalk to sidewalk. Other men of this 
type have secured conveyances, and have com- 
pleted a year's task in a month or two. If a 
physician did his work in that way, he would be 
apt to kill as often as he cured. The skilled and 
busy practitioner of medicine or of surgery does 
not, of course, throw away precious hours, or 
even moments, but if true to his profession and 
to his patients, he does not arbitrarily determine 
the length of his visits and of his treatments, or 
scamp his work by narrowly scanning Ms watch. 
The good physician, especially in the country, 
sometimes remains all night beside the bed of 
disease and pain, or he may simply say a cheery 
word of assurance and depart, leaving behind 
him still better doctors — cheerfulness and hope. 
How can he who practices the science of Chris- 
tian faith and ethics know in advance what symp- 
toms his cases will present? How can he do 
much good by treating all people alike, and 
hastily? How can he, any more than the family 
doctor, do up his work in advance, and then cease 
visiting? The preacher who can conduct his 

87 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

labors in such a fashion, and in the spirit which 
prompts it, puts a low but probably an appro- 
priate valuation upon his personal ministries. 
As to the high and splendid nature of the service 
itself, its perception has never even impinged 
upon his faculties : he is dead to the matter. 

The first thing necessary in order to a good 
pastoral relationship is a feeling of confidence 
on the part of the people of the parish. A metro- 
politan pastor cannot usually visit the whole 
membership of his church several times a year, 
as a country or residence district preacher may 
do. If the people not only believe in the man 
himself to whom they look for spiritual guidance, 
but are convinced that he is anxious to be helpful, 
and that he will quickly respond to important 
demands, when these are made upon him, they 
will wait in patience until he gets around to 
them, they will save time by coming at once to 
the point at which both are driving when he 
arrives, or they will stoutly declare that the rea- 
son he does not come is because he is more greatly 
needed somewhere else. It is not really difficult 
to satisfy the pastoral requirements of even a 
very large membership if the aged, the sick, and 
applicants for immediate attention are reason- 
ably well looked after. These, together with the 
humbler, poorer members of the church, are the 
first objects of care on the part of an experienced 
and wise new incumbent of parochial responsi- 
bilities. A good beginning made here will extend 

88 



THE METROPOLITAN PASTOR 

its influence to the limits of the field, for all sen- 
sible persons connected with a Christian society 
desire that these classes be especially consid- 
ered. On the other hand, complaints of neglect 
of such proper dependents upon sympathy and 
counsel will at length prove disastrous to the 
recreant minister, however instant may be his 
courtesies to the strong and to the well to do. 
The failure of one who professes to follow in the 
footsteps of Jesus, to be kind to the common 
people, who had such good reason to hear Christ 
gladly, subtly communicates itself to the minds 
of all, and even persons who desire first attention 
for themselves, and who are by no means always 
just to those whom they regard as being inferior 
in station, will disapprove and resent this in- 
consistency. Many brilliant preachers have been 
wrecked on the rock of partiality in the per- 
formance of the popular functions of their office. 
A good well-kept and well-thumbed pastoral 
record is one of the proofs of the minister's fidel- 
ity to his vocation. By this aid he knows the prog- 
ress he is making in "getting 'round.'' Dates, 
carefully set down on the occasions, show the 
lapses of time between various parochial visits. 
Notes about conditions in the family serve to 
indicate the frequency of future service required 
and the nature of good ends to be attained. Par- 
ticular attention will be given such matters as 
health, church membership, baptism, and other 
marks of possible special care. The introduction 

89 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

of Jesus Christ and of his worship into the home 
and the acceptance of Christ as- a personal 
Saviour and leader on the part of every member 
of the family, are the great objects sought. To the 
end of home religion, effort is made to see that 
good copies of the Scriptures and of wholesome 
and attractive Christian literature are to be 
found in each household. The recommendation 
and even the sale of valuable books and church 
papers is as fitting a part of personal ministry as 
is prayer. 

In the sick-room it is rare that devotional and 
intercessory exercises are not welcome. A few 
well-chosen verses from the Book of books, and 
an earnest supplication of divine grace, and the 
place is hallowed, leaving behind the retiring 
visitor the conscious presence of a greater and 
more loving Minister, who is able to heal both 
mind and body. The right use of prayer and 
Scripture is a great gift, to be coveted and to be 
sought earnestly, and to be employed at fitting 
times for the profit of the young and strong as 
well as of the infirm and the aged. It should 
never become a perfunctory and conventional 
service, lest the true spirit be lost. Tact as to 
occasions and circumstances of religious exer- 
cises is part of a good pastor's equipment, and 
he will neither offend, nor fail to do his full duty, 
in their application to discovered needs. 

Whatever he says and does in seasons of inter- 
course with his people in their own houses, the 

90 



THE METROPOLITAN PASTOR 

conscientious preacher always lias an earnest 
purpose, and lie so conducts himself as to con- 
vince them that he is seriously addressing his 
efforts to their spiritual welfare. He is whole- 
some and happy, avoiding so far as possible every 
aspect which is unnatural and unattractive ; but 
he is never frivolous, trivial, nor aimless. He is 
known and he acts as an ambassador for Christ. 
He is not intolerant of weakness, or tolerant of 
weaknesses, if they may be corrected by sugges- 
tion, by reproof or by inspiration. The easy 
optimism of the world with reference to char- 
acter and manners which is phrased by Rudyard 
Kipling is not for the man who is set to be an 
instructor and guide, and who is, if possible, to 
become an expert in teaching human improve- 
ment: 

For as they come and as they go, whatever grade they be, 
The people. Lord — thy people! — are good enough for me! 

The possessive pronoun is often misleading, and 
the reference of all people to God as being re- 
sponsible for their acts is, of course, however 
pitiful, most irreverent and false. Tranquil satis- 
faction with conditions which are, is a deep ditch, 
in which mankind has too much wallowed. 
Laissez faire is the end of progress upward, and 
the certainty of deterioration. Evil ignored, or 
willingly permitted, spreads destruction. The 
good physician never says, ^^The people — Thy 
people — are well enough for me," and the good 

n 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

pastor seeks the betterment of men, and Avill not 
rest until sins are repented of, pardoned, and 
conquered, and virtue is seen, loved, and at- 
tained. 

It is not a merely negative office, this relation 
of God-called men to the people of God's choice. 
The true and trained minister sets men and 
women at the higher tasks of life; he suspects 
latent talents and tempts their investment in 
good deeds; he demands righteousness in living, 
in giving, and in personal labor ; he arouses Chris- 
tian ambitions, and discovers ways by which fine 
traits of character and special gifts may be util- 
ized in the unpaid ministries of Christian love; 
he is a light, a fire, a kindling spirit; he is a 
potter, a recruiter, an outfitter, a tutor, an engi- 
neer of the mind and of the affections. Under 
God's hand he makes manhood, and produces 
servants of society. Most soldiers of the com- 
mon good — sociologists, reformers, philanthro- 
pists — owe more to ministerial influence than 
they have acknowledged or perhaps perceived. 

In coming into close relations with the lives in 
Ms care, every Christian leader must be ^^first 
pure, then peaceable." In this connection it is 
not permitted to forget that wolves put on sheep's 
clothing that they may the more easily gratify 
their wolfish nature, nor can the fact be ignored 
that the strong places of life are often filled by 
the frail, who, although they are set to uphold 
others, are themselves among the first to fall. 

92 



THE METROPOLITAN PASTOR 

Would that the Christian ministry could be 
purged from all just accusations of evil, and that 
its every representative entered the homes of 
city or of country to elevate the character and 
the ideals of their inmates. This is a holy priv- 
ilege — to be trusted with the intimacies of many 
households, and to go in and out of them, not 
only without sullying the minds or tarnishing 
the natures of any, but bringing power to virtue, 
fidelity to chaste and hallowed relations, and 
energy to selfless resolutions and purposes. The 
good pastor is a mender of household manners, 
and a saviour from martial and family ship- 
wrecks. He is apparently the best foe of divorce, 
and as a peacemaker he is more active and suc- 
cessful than the public will ever know. ^'How 
long shall I bear it?" asked a man who had con- 
sulted his pastor about his duty toward an un- 
congenial and intractable wife. No scriptural 
ground for separation was presented, and he had 
taken her ^^for better or for worse." ^^Till the 
end," was the reply. ^'I will," said the ques- 
tioner, and another family was kept together, 
and finally brought into peace, by the steadiness 
of a strong and convincing personality, known to 
be devoted to righteous and disinterested ends. 
It was a preacher who followed a runaway wife, 
whose partner had been unwise and unkind, and 
brought her back to a home far happier than it 
could have been made by permanent separation. 
The pastor who has not had to listen to the most 

93 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

personal and sacred information, and to give 
counsel which would determine the future of a 
household, has not been much trusted. His work 
in family relationships has been imperfect if, 
after much patient listening, and some stern but 
loving instruction, backed by a "Hear what the 
Lord saith," he has not seen husbands and wives 
make up in his presence, to the honor of God and 
to the great good of society. Such service as this 
requires a higher degree of skill than does the 
setting of broken bones or the curing of typhus. 
It is a master's work and the beauty of it lies 
in the fact that no fee is charged and no public 
credit is possible. "He that seeth in secret" knows 
how to give satisfactory rew^ard for the pains, 
risks, and loyalties of the pastoral practitioner. 
Many other human relations are oiled in the 
bearings by the shrewd and considerate interven- 
tion of the man of God who is also a fellow^ man. 
Affairs of partnerships, of the duties of em- 
ployers and of employees, of official responsibil- 
ities on the part of public servants, of parents 
and children, of pupils and teachers, of creditors 
and debtors, of buyers and sellers, of physicians 
and patients, of lawyers and clients, of lovers 
and friends — indeed, all possible interminglings 
of interests and obligations come before him as 
being one w^ho is in a sense an observer apart, 
or they are brought before him as an arbiter, 
counselor or judge. The city pastor has need of 
every form of knowledge and of every scrap of 

94 



THE METROPOLITAN PASTOR 

experience he has acquired. If he is not inter- 
ested, he must become interested in all that takes 
place in the lives of his people and not only in 
that which is directly referred to him. By no 
means is he a licensed meddler, yet he must at 
times have courage to volunteer his resources 
and skill. With all he must be kind, and above 
all he must put the Christ, holding him before 
the eyes of men as their one supreme need. To 
bring those of his parishioners who have not sur- 
rendered their lives to the divine workmanship 
to a realization of their sinfulness and folly in 
striving to do without God, and at length to 
acknowledge their error, making public confes- 
sion of Christian faith, is a sublime task and 
achievement. All prejudices to the contrary, 
there is reason to believe that at least in the 
case of mature and thoughtful persons this work 
can be accomplished more intelligently and 
surely by individual contact and treatment than 
by general addresses upon the subject. Great 
churches are usually built by the hand-to-hand 
methods of slow, plodding, but spiritually adept 
pastors, whose work may be supplemented or 
brought to view by the medium of revivals, of 
which it is the undercurrent and tidal power. 
The work of noted evangelists, even the ablest, 
would amount to little without the constant 
preaching and the personal persuasion of these 
men. 

Pastoral evangelism is an art which is not 

95 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

mastered in a day. The spirit which produces 
it may be suddenly inborn, but time and expe- 
rience, together with psychological and spiritual 
information, laboriously sought and acquired, 
are necessary factors in the production of an 
expert in the task of redemption. Too much 
thought and effort cannot be put into prepara- 
tion of mind and of heart, or into experimental 
essays in the undertaking itself. How may sec- 
ular and worldly-ambitious men and women be 
brought into a condition of spiritual appetency? 
How may they be led up to the crisis upon whose 
decisions turn spiritual life or death? How may 
the soul struggling to enter upon eternal life be 
delivered out of the earthly and sinful body? 
None of these events would be possible were it 
not for the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit, 
but the Spirit of God must usually attain access 
to human minds, and influence over their atti- 
tudes, by the use of human agencies. God often 
employs the humblest and simplest of willing 
and eager instruments to effect the conversion of 
the strong and stubborn. But is it not reasonable 
and scriptural to suppose, and is there not much 
proof for this in records of religious labors, that 
the divine power uses the best tools at hand for 
whatever work needs to be done, and especially 
to turn backward, or at least into new channels, 
the currents of human operations, ambitions, and 
purposes? If only the most ready Christian 
workers were the most skilled! Or if those per- 

96 



THE METROPOLITAN PASTOR 

sons of greatest human and scientiiie knowledge 
were possessed of vital concern for the irreligious 
and for victims of the evil world and spirit ! The 
pastor who goes not about to seek and to save 
the lost has missed his calling. Whoever en- 
gage upon such duties in a frame of mind so light, 
so self-confident, or so depreciative of the judg- 
ment of others that they neglect intellectual and 
spiritual training for their endeavors, will not 
often return from evangelistic journeys saying, 
^^Lord, even the very devils were subject unto 
us through thy name." 

Much that is here said applies to all pastors 
everywhere, but the metropolitan pastor, espe- 
cially in central locations, has a special field of 
vantage and of opportunity. In the heart of the 
city are the masses unchurched. Go to the ^'aris- 
tocratic ward,'' and you will find that almost 
everyone is at least nominally affiliated with 
some religious society, and the pity is that these 
good church people are so largely withdrawn 
from service to the city's sins and woes. Down- 
town are throngs who know no religious bond; 
who think themselves too poor, too wise, too sin- 
ful, too proud to join a church, or who just swim 
along with the stream of pleasure-seekers and 
utter worldlings without any especial thought of 
spiritual realities and needs. Who is to care for 
these? He will do it who shares the spirit of One 
who "when he saw the multitude, was moved with 
compassion on them because they fainted, and 

97 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shep- 
herd." He will seek the good of those who dwell 
in dense districts along crowded w^ays who re- 
members that his Lord when "he beheld the city, 
sobbed over it, saying. If thou hadst known, 
even thou, at least in this thy day, the things 
which belong unto thy peace! but now they are 
hid from thine eyes.'' He will do this work who 
has attained some share of the moral passion of 
Jesus which gave vent to the exclamation, "O 
Jerusalem, Jerusalem !" 

Pastoral care has been too much confined to 
the good sheep of the fold, and has been too little 
exercised upon wanderers and aliens. Even the 
wild beast occasionally requires help, and he 
has sometimes been tamed by love. It is the 
giorj of a good minister's life that he has seen 
the wolf come to dwell in peace with the lamb, 
and that he has led the tiger into the life of love. 
Few natures are as inaccessible to divine grace 
or to Christian teaching and power as some of 
them seem to be. God's right men can reach 
them and turn them to goodness. "The field is 
the world I" No man is set to be the pastor of 
a church : he is pastor of the Lord's flock, present 
and possible, scattered or near. Whoever needs 
him has a claim upon his talents, xlnd what 
satisfaction, to use another figure, to go into the 
forest of ungodliness, and hew out pillars, and 
cut beams and rafters for the temple of God! 
What toil is more manly? The minister of Christ 

98 



THE METKOPOLITAN PASTOR 

should hold his head erect, and with all humility 
should remember that the deeds of his hands 
are most honorable: good men and women ap- 
prove his labors : the angels of heaven know what 
he is doing, and await the joy of beholding peni- 
tence replace indifference or hardness of heart 
as the result of his influence ; the Master's eye is 
upon him, and his smile is the prize of victory. 
In this work honest effort is success : the only 
failure is that of him who strives not to T^^n. At 
the last no one can be coerced into religion : the 
minister of Christ is not set to do this : he is to 
lead, and if no one will follow, he is still a leader, 
crowned by his fidelity. 

The outreach of city work is broad and gener- 
ous. Every city pastor is a foreign missionary, 
not only by reason of raising a little money to 
send abroad and by virtue of sermons which he 
preaches, but by his location in the midst of 
foreigners of many types of thought and of habit. 
"But they are not of my pastorate!" No, but 
their care is yours, for they are neighbors in 
need. But how poorly done is this work of in- 
structing and of assimilating into the Christian 
body men whom God has brought from afar into 
our very midst, and who are exceedingly open to 
kind words and to fraternal acts. Every Chris- 
tian church should have an alien welfare society, 
unless the whole organization is such. Ministers 
of Christ should teach their people to be friendly 
and generous with the banana man, with the 

99 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

peddler, with the petty tradesman, mechanic, 
or servant with an unpronounceable name. And 
should not the preacher himself take occasion 
of poverty, sickness, and death to get himself 
sympathetically and usefully into the homes 
of "strangers and foreigners" to whom he can 
speak enough common words of any tongue, 
or to whom he can make sufficiently intelligible 
signs, to be recognized as having a beneficent 
purpose? If he wishes to make them fellow 
citizens with the saints and of the household 
of Christ, need he even wait for such events 
as these? May he not strike up acquaintance 
with the laborer in the street, with the boy who 
blacks his shoes, and with the little shopman, 
finally getting to the house where he lives, to 
be gladly recognized and received? It will be 
pleaded that the busy pastor has no time for such 
undertakings, and that they do not pay. A little 
time, is there not? And who can say in advance 
which will prove of greater value, effort ex- 
pended upon one's own kind of people, or that 
done for "the stranger that is within our gates'' ? 
"In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening 
withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not 
whether shall prosper, either this or that, or 
whether they both shall be alike good." 

It is an interesting thing sometimes to set out 
with no definite destination or plan, seeking 
adventures. The sailor who explores an un- 
charted sea, the prospector who goes into an 

100 



THE METROPOLITAN PASTOE 

unknown wilderness, will not find greater sur- 
prises or meet with more profitable discoveries 
than will be the experience of the city preacher 
who makes occasional pastoral journeys of this 
kind. If one is surfeited with commonplaces, or 
affected with the flatness and staleness of soul 
which sometimes attends too close application 
to the usual and to the necessary, let him fare 
forth as a spiritual pilgrim, as a religious path- 
finder and crusader, as a Christian buccaneer, if 
you will, and see what will happen. City streets 
are full of strange sights ; city centers are full of 
unique characters, some of whom rarely come out 
into public view ; city homes contain the neediest, 
most repulsive, most attractive, dearest people, 
who are not what they wish they were, who 
would they might go where they have never gone, 
and do what they have never done, who are eager 
to hear what is unheard, and who are treasure- 
trove beyond the dreams of the merchantman, 
the miner, the fisherman, the gambler, the pri- 
vateersman, the capitalist, or of any argonaut or 
conqueror. 



101 



CHAPTEE VI 

THE DOWNTOWN PROBLEM 

The downtown problem is the life or death 
struggle which the growth of cities and conse- 
quent changes of environment brings upon 
churches situated in the older portions of the 
town. The issue may come in one or in a number 
of localities, for modern cities often have several 
nuclei, in each of which the pressure of altered 
conditions may be felt. The theme is part of a 
still larger subject affecting the interest of 
churches generally, namely, arrested development 
and degeneration. The shortcomings of the 
"Stickit Minister" and the pathos of his humil- 
iation have been eloquently described by S. R. 
Crockett, but who has done justice to the condi- 
tion and trials of the Stickit Church? This em- 
barrassed institution is sometimes of the country, 
and careful studies of rural church problems 
ha\e been laid before the Christian community. 
For dwarfed, hidebound, diseased country 
churches some excellent remedies have been sug- 
gested which have wrought remarkable cures. In 
the city the Stickit Church too often sticks until 
it passes gradually or suddenly away, at least as 

102 



THE DOWNTOWN PROBLEM 

a separate body. A writer in The City Four- 
square says : "The ideal condition for the down- 
town church would be to have the City Mission- 
ary Society so strong that it could put funds into 
these centers adequate to their needs and suffi- 
cient to employ all the workers necessary, and 
relieve the pastor from financial burdens and set 
him free to the great work of ministry to the 
people in their sorrow, to inspire them in their 
struggles and guide them in their temptations — 
free to preach — yes, preach, for that is his chief 
task and the mightiest enginery for pulling 
down the strongholds of sin and Satan. This is 
undoubtedly what we will have to come to sooner 
or later in every church in the crowded centers 
of the city.'' 

With much that is implied in this statement 
all thinking persons must agree. But would it 
really be ideal to conduct all central city work 
as missionary propositions, even if City Societies 
were adequately financed for such a responsi- 
bility? And is it to be expected that a general 
fund, however large, is likely to equal all the 
demands of downtown church work? The wiser 
practice would seem to be to study and, if pos- 
sible, to resolve the difficulties which a^ttQud 
church work situated in the midst of vast mul- 
titudes of people, developing the resources and 
strength of individual congregations so that they 
may retain their independence, self-respect, and 
power to serve the society of which they are a 

103 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

part. If the right and timely steps are taken, 
strong foundations may be thus established, 
which may endure indefinitely. There will al- 
ways be enough failures to busy the City Mission- 
ary Society, and to absorb all its funds. 

What then, let it first of all be asked, is the 
matter with the embarrassed church? How 
shall it be saved, and how may other organ- 
izations be kept from similar discouragements? 
A slight change of location would sometimes 
make all the difference between failure and suc- 
cess. Churches are like department stores : they 
need to be in sight. Noise and crowding are to 
be courted, if they mean larger acquaintance on 
the part of the people. The church which is daily 
passed by throngs who fill the walks, or the 
street cars, advertises itself, and does not require 
the same amount of newspaper advertising, or 
of other forms of publicity as would otherwise 
be the case. If signs are employed to announce 
the activities of such a church, they are read 
hourly. The mere name upon the building be- 
comes a familiar term, and the use of the struc- 
ture as a landmark enlarges the circle of persons 
who may be brought within the influence of the 
congregation. In an Eastern city a well-known 
society had a chance to secure at a reasonable 
price a corner lot about two hundred feet away 
from its cross-street location; but ultraconserv- 
ative people objected because of the noise on the 
main avenue, and everything remains quiet 

104 



THE DOWNTOWN PROBLEM 

enough both without and within the edifice which 
its members occupy. Although able ministers 
have succeeded each other in the pastorate, the 
organization has not increased in size or mate- 
rially changed for the better in twenty-five years. 
It is a Stickit Church. 

Often it is impossible, because of the high 
price of land, to better the site of a church which 
was poorly placed, but churches which were 
well located to begin with have failed because 
they refused to improve their holdings of real 
estate at the right moment. As a result of this 
shortsighted policy they could not extend their 
plant in order to keep it up with the times, or 
objectionable uses were made of adjoining prop- 
erty, and the house of worship became untenable. 
God loves dirt — in the right place. He made 
plenty of it, but church boards are often nig- 
gardly when they are securing a piece of it for 
divine uses. Because of a difference of a single 
thousand dollars in each case two separate city 
churches in New York State were greatly in- 
jured. One was shut out of sight by adjoining 
buildings, and finally died. The other lost the 
symmetry of its property, and the beauty of its 
environment, which is marred by a coarse, poorly 
painted business structure. Extra land is almost 
certain to be needed by a city church, and if not 
required by its own uses, it frequently becomes 
the basis of an endowment which could or would 
not otherwise be obtained. It is a sad com- 
ics 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

mentarj on the business management of some 
societies that they have actually sold land for 
little or nothing, and that without necessity, for 
the lack of which they were later forced out of 
existence. A good rule is, Buy land, plenty of it, 
and keep it. The world, the flesh, and the devil 
have too much city soil. Let Christianity be a 
landholder, not certainly for commercial profit, 
but for self -protection, for self-preservation, and 
for advancement. 

An unfortunate pastorate does not necessarily 
involve the affairs of a church in irretrievable 
difficulties, but in denominations which install 
the minister are there not many illustrations of 
permanently static conditions? Long incum- 
bency of the same pulpit is certainly the ideal 
ministerial career, and where relations between 
pastor and people are continuously profitable 
and pleasant they are honorable to both parties. 
A good pastor often becomes not only increas- 
ingly desirable with the progress of years, but 
because of deep and tender ties formed between 
the community and himself he comes to be both 
a moral and a material asset of the highest value 
to the organization which supports him and 
whose undertakings he leads. The other side of 
this picture is that of the good man who has lost 
his power but holds tenaciously to his place. 
Perhaps he has ceased improving mentally or, 
what is worse, spiritually. Occasionally a 
preacher by far outgrows his people; but if he 

106 



THE DOWNTOWN PROBLEM 

retains humanity and sympathy, such a develop- 
ment will deepen and enrich his ministry, tend- 
ing to make him in advanced age an object of 
veneration, and to assure him a holier, and at the 
same time, a nearer and dearer regard, on the 
part of his congregation. 

When a long pastorate becomes a menace and 
finally a positive injury to a church, it is not 
likely that the fault is wholly on one side. 
Thoughtless criticisms, and disloyalties of church 
members often contribute more painfully than 
do pulpit and ministerial delinquencies to put a 
period to an era of prosperity and of progress 
which might have been continued almost indefi- 
nitely. Some congregations have seasons of rest- 
lessness under any administration, even the best. 
At such times it is a fortunate church which 
numbers among its leading members and officials 
a few wise, cool heads who allay turbulence, and 
by their poise and steadiness hold things together 
until the tide of feeling turns and brings back a 
fuller and lasting success. The church and pas- 
torate are strengthened by passing through such 
an experience, for all learn thereby the unwisdom 
of hasty judgments. The withdrawal of intract- 
able or loosely affiliated members who separate 
themselves from the society at such a time proves 
to be a gain rather than a loss. The result is 
mutual understanding and solidarity. 

When he is himself conscious that his ministry 
in the field which he is tilling is a complete fail- 

107 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

ure, or when the best counselors whom he can 
secure advise him that he cannot further add to 
the work which he has accomplished, is a pastor 
justified in holding his place? Certainly, it is 
right that he should desire a little extension of 
employment, an opportunity to turn himself, and 
to protect the interests of his family. The church 
which is unreasonable enough not to grant such 
a time and privilege is less just than are many 
secular institutions, to say nothing of the better 
class of individual employers. But there is a 
limit to proper sufferance of unsatisfactory con- 
ditions. When he has been given six months, a 
year, or perhaps on the part of an unusually con- 
siderate and Christian congregation, an even 
longer space for making an adjustment, is it not 
inexcusable on the part of a minister of the gospel 
to strive for the continuance of relations which 
are manifestly ineffective or worse? One who 
has dedicated his life to the task of extending 
the kingdom of Christ can never consistently be- 
come the deliberate cause of permanent or even 
of long-continued and, therefore, dangerous weak- 
ness and lack of growth on the part of the church 
which he is serving. Such conduct would defeat 
the avowed purpose of his ministry. To prevent 
cases of this kind it is needful not merely to 
cultivate a conscientious spirit but to invent and 
perfect convenient methods of pastoral changes, 
ways of helping good men with heavy home 
responsibilities to let go, and ways of aiding dis- 

108 



THE DOWNTOWN PKOBLEM 

tressed churches to find good men. By many 
illustrations it can be proven that the man whose 
pastorate is at least a relative failure in one city, 
or section of a city, may become a remarkable 
leader of victories in another locality. This 
happens so often that preachers may well hope 
for such an ending of difficulties when a change 
seems necessary. Of course as men of God they 
properly exercise a large degree of confidence in 
that Supreme Power which operates in the 
Church. 

A changing environment and a stubborn and 
unchanging policy of management is the unfor- 
tunate combination of conditions which creates 
many Stickit Churches. In one of the cities of 
the Middle West a little society, at the center 
of which is a group of set and resolute minds, 
inhabits a fine temple in a downtown district 
from which every glory has departed save that of 
the opportunity of service to a tempted, strug- 
gling, and imperfect mass of humanity. This 
church, however, will neither attempt, nor per- 
mit any pastor to inaugurate, the kind of work 
by which a vitally important office to the city 
might easily be discharged. In vain do expert 
observers declare that it would bring throngs, 
resources, usefulness, and high honor if the or- 
ganization would permit itself to become modern- 
ized and adapted to its field, and to its plain 
duty. The leaders "stand pat,'' and herein is 
one of the greatest evils which may result from 

109 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

failure to endow a downtown church. Such a 
society is often compelled by reason of the death 
or removal of many of its prosperous members 
to become dependent upon the few strong finan- 
cial backers who remain. The will and whims of 
this handful of dictators are imposed upon the 
whole company. In the instance cited the church 
governors will not permit any change of pro- 
gram from that of former days. They advertise 
their services, but only in a set manner, and in 
methods of work they follow the customs of the 
most conservative societies in residence wards 
and in the suburbs. In this manner the affairs 
of the church have been conducted for years with- 
out substantial improvement of any kind. The 
well to do officials manage to keep the building in 
repair. They also maintain a preacher, who fol- 
lows a long succession of predecessors who were 
dismissed as unsatisfactory, or more often threw 
up the task with great dissatisfaction as soon as 
they discovered the inexorable fixity of the ideas 
which obsess the minds of the leaders. A 
preacher who will consent to remain permanently 
in a situation of this kind, where progress is arbi- 
trarily estopped, is a mere hireling. It is to the 
credit of the ministry that few men are willing to 
accept, if they know it in advance, or to continue 
to occupy when they find out the truth, a position 
so utterly dominated and hopeless. 

The outlook for a church which will not re- 
spond to its environment is extinction. This 

110 



THE DOWNTOWN PROBLEM 

event may be deferred for a long, barren, heart- 
breaking period of time, but can only be escaped 
by the uprising of the younger element, by the 
incoming of new blood of an effusion so powerful 
as to overcome the sluggishness in the veins of 
the body, or by a few first-class funerals, occur- 
ring quickly enough to permit a change of policy 
while sufficient life remains to be recuperated. 
One of the most vigorous central churches of the 
country, well known by reputation, entered upon 
a period of coma in which gains were scarcely 
equal to losses incurred, and slow dissolution, 
apparent even to shrewd observers on the out- 
side, began to take place. A young layman of 
promise was given an official position in this 
church. He was forceful, aggressive, and suc- 
cessful in his own business. When he turned his 
attention to the affairs of the society which had 
honored him with office he soon discovered the 
cause of trouble, namely, the "stop-the-clock" 
conservatism of the hold-overs in the church 
board. It happened that part of these men were 
intelligent enough to be impressed by the vision 
of a younger and more resourceful leader. With 
this group the new officer associated some 
of his friends among the young people of the 
church in an effort to overturn the unprogres- 
sive majority of the leading board of manage- 
ment, not on the ground of age or disability, 
but because of its closure against new con- 
ceptions of duty. The result surprised every- 

111 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

body. A number of excellent officials were tri- 
umphantly elected, and when the old church took 
on life and began to acquire a place of assured 
power in the affairs of the town, and of prom- 
inence among its Christian societies, even the 
decapitated leaders were forced to acknowledge 
the improvement, and were lost between pain 
and admiration. 

_^ Lack of daring, and not merely conservatism, 
is a frequent cause of immobility, and of ulti- 
mate deterioration in church life. Timidity in 
handling central church problems is certainly 
safer than recklessness, especially with reference 
to matters of grave importance in policy, or in 
the disposition and handling of property. But is 
it reasonable to expect that religious corpora- 
tions can altogether escape the risks incident 
to the transaction of business by associations in 
general? "Nothing venture, nothing have" is 
one of the fallible maxims whose blind obedience 
has ruined many individuals and societies. 
"Nothing venture, and success is certain" is quite 
as deceitful philosophy. Debt is feared by some 
church leaders with an intensity of feeling which 
inspires the thought that their alarm is for their 
OYviL pockets rather than for the interests of 
Christianity. Few fortunes are made without 
the use of credit, and while it is never good to 
plunge hastily and deeply into obligations which 
may embarrass the future, a reasonable anticipa- 
tion of coming needs or a sensible investment in 

112 



THE DOWNTOWN PROBLEM 

expectation of later profits is often the highest 
wisdom. 

Those Christian denominations which have 
centralized the titles of their property and have 
vested the authority of their management in the 
hands of experienced and proved high officials 
are often able by acts thus made possible to pre- 
vent the increase of Stickit Churches. Individual 
church ownership is not only rarely willing to 
take the slightest risk for the common good, but 
frequently, as we have seen, stands firmly in the 
way of its own best interest. It will sometimes 
allow the institution to die rather than incur 
debt, and it often plants itself firmly against 
timely improvements and investments. For the 
sum of thirty-five hundred dollars, which might 
easily have been raised, or carried temporarily 
on interest, a prominent church might have pur- 
chased in the rear of its site a usable plot of 
gTound, which after a time became worth a half 
million. In the same city another church was 
offered the balance of the block frontage adjoin- 
ing its building, but timorous or selfish officials 
refused to consent to the purchase. When the 
well-nigh imperative need of this land became 
evident a few months later a certified check for 
much more than twice the former price was 
promptly declined by the owners. In this, as in 
many similar instances, lack of vision, of gen- 
erosity, or of the faith which gives courage have 
robbed later generations of the opportunity of 

113 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

advancement, or of large sums of money, which 
will be required in order to assure the fortunes of 
the society. 

A city church in a semicentral section of its 
community was restrained from vital progress by 
the lack of one of the fundamental qualities of 
Christianity— democracy. ^'All we want is a 
few more people of the same kind/' is said to have 
been a representative statement of the feeling 
of this society. The good sense of the community 
did not respond to such an attitude, and the 
church languished, as it deserved. Jesus Christ 
had compassion on the multitude; he ate and 
drank with publicans and sinners, and he sought 
them for the kingdom which he came to establish. 
When a church becomes exclusive it is little 
better, save possibly in some moral characters, 
than a club. It has lost the spirit of its Lord. 
To such a church evangelism is a dead issue, and 
fear of revivals takes the place of passion for 
souls. Social meetings become anything but 
social, and the atmosphere of the house of God 
is made unfriendly and uncomfortable to the sons 
of men. If such an institution cannot be re- 
formed and transformed, it might better die, and 
when it dies nothing much has happened. 

Hyper-aestheticism and pseudo-culture some- 
times cloroform a city church into lethargy and 
inefficiency. This is more liable to occur in resi- 
dence sections, but occasionally a family church 
which has become a central problem is thus 

114 



THE DOWNTOWN PROBLEM 

afflicted. The "cultivated'' insipid leaders of 
such a society will not accept or support a "red- 
blooded" preacher, with the ability to save the 
situation. A church of this kind, heavily burdened 
with debt, has struggled on for years at a poor 
dying rate, trying one listless administration 
after another, each more hopeless than the last. 
If it were endowed, instead of being indebted, 
it might persist indefinitely in spite of consump- 
tive tendencies, which fact is an exception to be 
made to sayings elsewhere in this volume with 
reference to the value of permanent funds. 
Under a strict appointive system a similar church 
was saved from extinction, or from an even more 
calamitous living death, by the power which 
placed in control of its destinies a pastor of the 
sort needed though not wanted. Within a few 
months the work was reorganized, reinvigorated, 
and made thoroughly creditable. New strong- 
members poured in, and were assimilated by the 
now wholesome life of the society, and a church 
rated as a negligible factor in the life of the city 
was made, and has since remained, a center of 
religious strength. 

The Stickit Church is seldom, if ever, beyond 
the reach of sufficient purpose, faith, and devo- 
tion. Prayer and work will save it, even from 
itself. The officers of a church which needed a 
spurring up formed themselves into a Sunday 
night force, and by dividing the work both 
manned and advertised the service which is most 

115 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

apt to draw strangers and newcomers, particu- 
larly from the younger classes of society. The 
result was a replenished membership, a growing 
Bible school, enlarged resources, and a redeemed 
institution. In another instance it was a group 
of determined and cheerful young lads, scarcely 
out of boyhood, who ^'boomed" their failing old 
church into a regular beehive of industry, and 
made it a glowing success. The adaptation of a 
downtown society to a sensible scheme of com- 
munity betterment performed another miracle of 
this kind. Whatever Christian service puts idle 
hands at work increases the interest of the mind 
and arouses the heart's love. Get people to think- 
ing of others and not of themselves, to helping a 
cause and not merely enjoying a ministry, and a 
tide of new life flows into the Church, and days 
of hesitation, of helplessness and of unfruitful- 
ness are over. This is the Master's wish. "A 
certain man had a fig tree planted in his vine- 
yard ; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and 
found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his 
vineyard. Behold, these three years I come seek- 
ing fruit on this fig tree, and find none; cut it 
down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he 
answering said unto him. Lord, let it alone this 
year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it : 
and if it bear fruit, well : and if not, then after 
that thou shalt cut it down.'' Nevertheless, not 
even the patience of the Lord of the vineyard can 
save the tree which the dresser insists upon spoil- 

116 



THE DOWNTOWN PROBLEM 

ing, and a church may be ruined by bad handling. 
Destruction is, indeed, easier than skillful train- 
ing and development, and the result of care- 
lessness is even more certain than is that of labor 
and affection. 

It is difficult to imagine a more melancholy 
spectacle than is presented in the death struggle 
of a once powerful church. An instance of the 
kind, which mil never be forgotten by those Avho 
beheld it, abounded in typical and instructive 
incidents. A fine old building of impressive 
churchly architecture, a neighborhood once fash- 
ionable and still highly respectable, numbering 
within its borders many families of culture and 
of means, but now approached on one side, 
though not very nearly, by the best business dis- 
trict of the city, a membership still large and 
financially strong but perhaps needing some infu- 
sion of more vigorous life — such was the oppor- 
tunity and environment to which a new pastor 
was called who proved to be the most notorious 
as well as the last incumbent of a pulpit which 
had been gTaced by a long line of distinguished 
men. A serious problem was encountered by 
this new leader, certainly, but one not essentially 
different from those which have been met by 
other and successful men. By no means was it 
beyond solving, nor did it necessarily portend a 
serious crisis. A good average administration of 
affairs, together with reasonable pastoral and 
pulpit effort, ought to have assured a needed and 

117 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

reputable society many years of life and of use- 
fulness. Much more than this was, also possible 
to spiritual purpose and power. If the church 
had been held to its high and holy obligations of 
Christian faith and service, and if its members 
had been aroused to a sense of the importance of 
the organization to the life of the community, 
funds could easily have been obtained, not only 
to sustain an immediate aggressive policy, but to 
maintain upon the old foundations a permanent 
and representative work. 

The adage, "Man proposes, but God disposes,'' 
seems sometimes obversely true — God proposes 
and man disposes. Without a doubt many a 
divine plan has been shattered by human per- 
versity. How far advanced in judgment and in 
righteousness the world would be if the divine 
purpose had never been opposed no one can im- 
agine. It would seem as if the thought of the 
Almighty in planting a church in a place where 
it might have had a social influence increasing 
with the years, must have been that it should 
adapt itself to new issues and grow strong in 
good deeds. To this program and event a man 
said "No!'' thus showing at the same time his 
royalty and his folly. 

"Like priest, like people" is a tendency which 
has its peril as well as its virtue. New pastors 
ought to be put on probation, though not on sus- 
picion. It would have been far better if the offl- 
cials and leading members of the church of this 

118 



THE DOWNTOWN PKOBLEM 

narrative had followed the man they chose for 
leader with discretion, and not blindly, as the 
majority did follow him. By the time the true 
end of his counsels appeared it was too late to 
avoid disaster. Efforts to escape the final calam- 
ity were indeed made, but not until inevitable 
doom impended, when, of course, they proved 
futile. 

The first symptom in this pastorate of ten- 
dencies which should have seemed disquieting, 
and which did disturb the minds of a few persons 
of quality, was a rather unspiritual, not to say 
secular, note in the conduct of public worship. 
The same characteristic, in a form not less pro- 
nounced, was recognized in the private ministra- 
tions of the pastor. Younger and more thought- 
less members of the congregation were delighted, 
taking flippancy to be a sign of modernity, and 
of intellectual acuteness. They praised the 
preacher, and as the mind is made by what it 
feeds upon, the flattered man became still more 
shallow and irreverent. It was not many weeks 
before the effects of a spirit which always de- 
vitalizes religion began to be felt in the social 
meetings of the church. Prayer meetings grew 
less lifelike. An unreality, quickly shading into 
indifference, took possession of attendants, who 
began to be irregular in coming to these services. 
Hungry souls will not long frequent a lean table ; 
they look up another source of food. Devout 
members of the society, of whom it has been 

119 



THE CHUECH IN THE CITY 

stated that there were a considerable number, 
became increasingly restless and uncomfortable. 
The Sunday school shared the experience of the 
midweek meeting, becoming not so quickly, but 
just as certainly, and even more painfully, dis- 
affected. A very considerable degree of spiritual 
energy and efficiency is required in order to pro- 
duce and to keep in constant action a corps of 
suitable officers and teachers for a Bible school. 
Aberration from religion departs ever more 
widely from the path of wisdom. One step after 
another, and each one more easily taken than 
the latest, led to unforeseen denouements. 
Neither this pastor nor the majority of his people 
realized whither their acts were tending. About 
this time some of the older substantial members 
of the church died, and their places were filled 
by parishioners who enjoyed hearing the preacher 
attack the creed, and who did not consider it a 
serious matter that the name of Christ was more 
and more frequently omitted even from the pray- 
ers which were offered from the sacred desk. 
Several conservative and strong families were, 
however, so much distressed by these and by 
similar acts that they asked for letters of dis- 
missal to churches where conditions were more 
satisfactory. They went away sadly and quietly, 
after the manner of responsible persons when 
they are wounded too deeply for speech. "Let 
them go," cried the new members and the "ad- 
vanced" pastor. "We have plenty of more pro- 

120 



THE DOWNTOWN PROBLEM 

gressive people to take their places.'' So they 
had, for the pastor and his up-to-date methods 
were drawing, surely enough. The ever alert 
and busy man had now embraced and was ex- 
ploiting Socialism of a type neither sociological 
nor Christian. Very soon he had outgrown or 
outrun some of the usual conventions of morality, 
but as he was a skilled rhetorician, and was 
possessed of no little animal and mental magnet- 
ism, and because his auditorium was crowded 
and easily accessible to reporters, the press of 
the city gave him attention out of all reasonable 
proportion to the space given to men who were 
plowing deeper soil and reaping permanent har- 
vests. 

After a time the prayer meeting, having lost 
the Spirit, ceased to exist. Literary and social 
clubs — ^valuable enough in their proper place, 
but not much more satisfactory substitutes for 
religious nutrition than ^^the husks which the 
swine did eat" — were conducted zealously. The 
midweek religious service was followed into 
oblivion by the Sunday school. The chapel, 
which had been refloored for dancing, became a 
popular rendezvous, but not for worship or for 
any kind of useful service. The more nimbly its 
young people danced, the more completely, it 
seemed, did religious interest and Christian pur- 
pose die out of their hearts, until no one was left 
to teach the Bible or to lead in public prayer. 
A Scriptureless, prayerless church! Not far 

121 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

from death, one would think. Dying uncon- 
sciously: mistaking numbers and social excite- 
ment for life and power. 

The finances of the society, strangely enough, 
considering the throngs and the praises of the 
people, began to give concern. It is, after all, 
those who pray who remain to pay. Liberalism 
in preaching and in teaching attracts and pro- 
duces libertines in character and in conduct, 
who do as they please, and who pay for other 
things aside from their pleasures only when they 
feel like it. Liberals are sadly lacking in liber- 
ality, unless it may be in bequests given by rea- 
son of remorse when they cannot longer use the 
money themselves. Exceptions to these state- 
ments are not numerous enough to meet the bills 
of many churches, while the law that Christians 
pay is too nearly invariable to prevent the pros- 
perity of any really religious body. To put it 
plainly, although congregations were still large 
and members many, funds were constantly 
shrinking. Plate collections will never run a 
church. People who throw into offerings at 
public services an occasional clanging coin think 
that they are generous supporters of the gospel, 
but it is the quiet conscientious envelope for each 
Sunday in the year, and the silent unobtrusive 
check mailed to the treasurer, which count for a 
total sufficient to keep salaries paid, repairs and 
improvements made, and heat and light con- 
stantly supplied. The church that is run for the 

122 



THE DOWNTOWN PROBLEM 

loose collections soon runs into the ground, and 
so it was found in the instance which is under 
consideration. The pastor was in arrears on 
salary. A great to-do was made, once, again, and 
still again. Relief proved to be but temporary. 
Pressure for finances instantly affected the 
crowds, who were there to be entertained, excited, 
and thrilled, and not to be disturbed by the paltry 
question of ways and means. 

Why prolong the tale? The pastor resigned. 
What else could he do, with such a thankless con- 
gregation? He had piped unto them, and they 
had danced, to be sure, but they w^ould not pay 
the piper. And that kind of pipers, pied pipers 
who lead astray children of God, are among the 
most sensitive to financial conditions. Hundreds 
of preachers of the gospel work for next to 
nothing, starving themselves and their families, 
or supplementing the resources of their faithful 
ministry by private incomes or by lucrative avo- 
cations, but these men are believers, often of a 
very narrow but always of a conscientious type. 
Who has found broad-gauge and worldly minded 
shepherds persistently minding the sheep of God 
through seasons of peril from opposition, unpopu- 
larity, poverty? When it no longer pays him to 
preach, the hireling fleeth. The unpaid pied 
piper lays down his pipe, and turns to the plat- 
form, to literature, to politics, to the world. And 
what of his church? Dead now was the church 
that had listened to the piping of the pied piper. 

123 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

The children never came back home. But for a 
season, however paradoxical may seem the impli- 
cation that a body from which life had departed 
ought to know its condition, the company which 
had been led into the wilderness to perish was 
unconscious of its spiritual dissolution. Physical 
decay was gradual. The church officials could 
not secure a more worthy leader to follow the 
author of their distresses. Even if a strong 
Christian pastor could have been induced to serve 
a congregation from whom evangelical faith and, 
consequently, ethical soundness had gone, dis- 
position to secure such a man, and ability to give 
him physical and spiritual support were lacking. 
Attempts to attract permanent leadership of any 
kind signally failed. The ruling element at 
length decided that a Sunday lectureship was the 
true solution of the problem before the church, 
and it was felt that an original and valuable 
demonstration of pulpit possibilities for the New 
Age could thus be made. Celebrities were em- 
ployed to discuss topics of the day. For several 
months the edifice was again thronged with curi- 
ous and curiously assorted hearers, who listened 
with apparent interest to addresses on the high- 
est themes in art, philosophy, social science, 
politics, and comparative and positive religions. 
Whatever incidental good may have been accom- 
plished by these orations, they achieved nothing 
in restoring power to an organization which only 
a miracle could have redeemed. Logic, eloquence, 

124 



THE DOWNTOWN PROBLEM 

and poetry were alike in vain. Despite strong 
appeals, collections did not meet lecture fees, to 
say little of expensive music, lighting, heating, 
and other incidentals, which, after all, have to 
be considered. Always came deficits, and the 
necessity of making up, largely to be borne by 
the officers themselves, since they were held al- 
most entirely responsible by a membership 
unwilling to make sacrifices. This became 
monotonous, as was also the church performance 
as a whole. 

The one eternally vital and perpetually inter- 
esting theme is Christ and Christianity, and there 
is no other. Lecture courses must always be 
brief, or else they will dwindle and drivel in sub- 
stance and in sustenance. The church which 
gives over preaching Christ and his gospel is 
moribund. "Ichabod'' is written on its walls; 
the glory of the Lord no longer fills the house, or 
appears to its worshipers ; God is dead within the 
hearts of his people; let the end come speedily, 
and let burial be hastened, lest corruption breed 
disease and spread death. The church building 
of our narrative was sold under the sheriff's 
hammer, I believe. One more institution which 
had once been a moral asset to the city, and 
which might have remained for generations a 
center of Christian activity and influence, be- 
came a memory of ancient virtue and of modern 
crime. * 

It will be affirmed, and justly, that the deplor- 

125 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

able occurrence above outlined was exceptional. 
Fortunately so, but the loss of downtown 
churclies is not unusual, and a by no means infre- 
quent cause of such catastrophes is decline of 
piety, due to a kind of modernism which substi- 
tutes materialism for Christian prophecy, intel- 
lectual and social culture for religion, or, at best, 
moral eugenics for spiritual life. Under this 
blight another church, hundreds of miles dis- 
tant from the one whose death struggle has been 
related, was for a time given a mere simulacrum 
of life by sensational advertising, and by the 
discussion of bizarre topics, and it finally yielded 
some salvage through absorption by a neighbor- 
ing central society. When a church, finding 
itself slipping somewhat from its former pros- 
perity, appeals to the very worldliness which it is 
set to counteract, it makes a fatal blunder. 
Sometimes the difficulty is one which needs the 
aid of vested or benevolent funds. Or, as has 
also been stated previously, it may be that adap- 
tation to new and different circumstances is the 
treatment required in order to restoration of 
strength. More often the need is to bring the 
life of the church into vital relation with the 
claims of the surrounding community, and espe- 
cially to direct the ministry of the pulpit at the 
hearts of the people. Not even the most valuable 
ethical prophylaxy, whose elements may wisely 
be included within the scope of gospel preach- 
ing, is able to satisfy and to hold the regard of 

126 



THE DOWNTOWN PROBLEM 

men and women who daily battle with the world. 
Living as they do in the atmosphere of the com- 
monplace, of the sordid, and of the nnclean, they 
need the "food of the mighty. '' Hunger and 
thirst for Christian righteousness and for the 
inspiration and comfort of Christian experience 
are often subconscious, or are but faintly real- 
ized, but these passions are present in every liv- 
ing soul. The appeal to them is imperative, and 
the ministry which supplies the demands of the 
inner spirit acquires lasting power. 

Every minister of Christ should occasionally 
receive such a message as that which came to a 
preacher who on the previous Sunday had dis- 
coursed somewhat abstractly, and mayhap ab- 
stractedly, on temptation. "The tempted one 
was in the audience," was the information anony- 
mously received. Not only the tempted, but the 
sinful, burdened, sorrowing, well-nigh over- 
whelmed are in church audiences. No frothy 
food, flavored paganism, philosophy of the age, 
frigid ethics, smug sentimentality, vapid formal- 
ism should be given them. Jesus Christ, the 
crucified, risen, living and all-powerful Saviour 
of tried, aspiring, dully hopeful humanity, is the 
heart's desire, and the strength of life. And 
where Christ is preached fully and fearlessly, the 
church does not die; it lives, and grows, and 
finds a way to develop, and to do the work of 
God. Even when such a church is betrayed, 
sinned against, or sold out and removed from the 

127 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

place where its candlestick should be per- 
manently fixed, its spirit and good works persist 
in the memory and deeds of those whom it has 
taught the way of life, and has trained to fulfill 
divine behests. 



128 



CHAPTER VII 

FAMILY AND NEIGHBORHOOD 
CHURCHES 

A QUESTIONNAIRE directed to eminent Chris- 
tian leaders in over one hundred cities of the 
United States, and including all the largest 
centers, has revealed the fact that eighty-six 
per cent of these places still contain strong down- 
town family churches, or at least churches which 
have a representative family nucleus. Not a 
little credit for this fortunate state of affairs 
must be given to the automobile. Central 
churches which two or three decades ago were in 
the first stages of decay began to come back when 
young families at a distance found themselves 
able to get to the old place of worship without 
being subjected to the annoyances and delays 
incident to the use of street cars. The strong 
appeal which history and memory unite in mak- 
ing in behalf of long-established churches leads 
many to accept every aid to permanent relations 
with their membership. It is evident that under 
present conditions it is possible in w^ell-central- 
ized cities up to a population of even half a 
million or more to preserve, in part at least, the 

129 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

family character of the best of the downtown 
churches. The high social value of this relation- 
ship of the town's most intelligent life with its 
greatest problems needs no argument beyond that 
which has been already considered. 

Justly is a protest raised against the disposi- 
tion to laud mission churches and settlements as 
if they were the only important religious under- 
takings of the city, ''to lay so much emphasis here 
that our people lose interest in the larger and 
more permanent work that is being accomplished 
in our many downtown churches." 

Despite the foregoing paragraph, the general 
testimony is that the larger a city becomes the 
greater is the difficulty of maintaining the mem- 
bership of the older churches. Even though a 
strong group of permanent families are retained 
in their fellowship, the constant movement of 
people of large cities from one town to another 
and from one part to another of the same town 
puts the leaders of such churches on their mettle 
to keep track of unsettled members, and to fill 
the places of those who go away. If the hopper 
is not kept full of newcomers, the mill will soon 
be empty. City churches often lose, by removal 
and by the few deaths which occur, from five to 
twenty per cent of their members a year. Only 
earnest work can even the list, to say nothing of 
making an advance. The downtown pastor, if 
he wishes his church to be prosperous, must of 
necessity give special attention to his most dis- 

130 



FAMILY CHURCHES 

tant members. It is as true as it is ungenerous — 
not to use a stronger word — that these members 
of bis church are subject to constant solicitation, 
as well as temptation, to unite with churches of 
other denominations, and even of the same de- 
nomination nearer their homes. Of this later. 
But, now, why not let these people go? Because 
sometimes they will not be made as much at 
home, and may be lost out of the work; because 
sometimes they will not be as well taught or cared 
for spiritually in the new location as in the old ; 
because often they are by no means as much 
needed in the Christian neighborhood where they 
live as in the city's heart, where the church 
which has nurtured them is situated. It is not 
necessary to stress this matter. The instinct of 
self-preservation is strong in good churches and 
pastors. Members at a distance are kept near 
by reasonably frequent visits, by responsibilities 
laid upon them, by appreciation of their labors 
and of themselves, and by the esprit de corps and 
loyalty inculcated in the whole body. This is 
not a work of selfishness but of Christian and 
civic service. The families of a town which are 
called "good'' families ought not to be allowed to 
herd together in exclusive and self-centered so- 
cieties, but should remain distributed among all 
the city churches, so far as this ideal may be real- 
ized, and especially in places where their pres- 
ence helps to leaven the masses. The personal 
columns of the church paper, and the ties of vari- 

131 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

ous societies within the organization are wisely 
used to help hold the remote membership, and 
thus to preserve some family character to the 
downtown church. 

The easiest and hardest city work is that of 
the newer and more prosperous residence dis- 
tricts. There both pastors and people can be 
lazier and more worthless to the kingdom of 
Christ than anywhere else in town or in country. 
No great trouble to get new members is neces- 
sary, as people of the same denomination are 
constantly moving in, and many of them, with 
precious little effort, will make their way into the 
fold. No severe financial problem is presented. 
The people of such neighborhoods are mainly of 
the successful class, and while they are often 
pretty selfish, they are usually willing, out of 
relatively large incomes, to give to the support of 
the church w^hat is small for them, but would 
seem princely giving in other parts of the town. 
Therefore the work is easy. Under such condi- 
tions the church may be kept up to date in all 
its appointments without serious pressure, and 
the pastor gets a large salary, and can take fre- 
quent and long vacations. This portion of Zion 
may rest in peace and smile at misfortune — that 
is, if consciences are not too tender, and if out- 
side pressure is not too severe. But if it is felt 
that real Christian work ought to be done for 
and with those persons who, by reason of educa- 
tion, position, and wealth, have largest potential- 

132 



FAMILY CHUKCHES 

ity for good or for evil, a definite and difficult 
task begins to appear. One of the hardest classes 
to make useful to Christianity is that of the 
newly rich. It is a self-admiring, purse-proud 
people, bent upon show and pleasure. The 
successful pastor of a community composed of 
citizens of this type must have some kinship 
to his constituency, or he does not stay long, 
and he must have marked individuality, and 
pronounced Christian convictions and purposes, 
or he accomplishes little good. The aid of older 
families of wealth and of recognized social 
standing, who have also spirituality, may be 
enlisted in the task of maturing new accessions 
from the world of fashion and of folly into a 
sensible, substantial, and considerate church 
membership. Fortunate is the aristocratic 
church, so called and often falsely, which 
also contains a few quiet, unobtrusive persons 
approved and accepted by its fellowship gener- 
ally, not for what they have, but for what years 
of association and of service have proved them 
to be. With these latter elements as a nucleus, 
and by the aid of their prayers and endeavors, a 
pastor of high resolution who is Spirit-led and 
strengthened often is able to witness in his con- 
gregation miracles of transformation which are 
of great moral and social significance. 

A wealthy church conforms its pastor to itself, 
or is gradually mastered by the principles which 
control his life. How fierce is the temptation 

133 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

which assails the young man suddenly called into 
responsibility for a parish that is full of worldli- 
ness, with its attendant vices. The persons whom 
he meets are surprisingly free from scruples, 
confident and self-assertive. Amid such sur- 
roundings the foundations of piety, and even of 
morality, seem to tremble beneath the feet. It 
is fortunate that elect souls pray for pastors, 
especially for new pastors. Many a man at the 
head of an important church goes through Geth- 
semane, if not at the beginning of his incum- 
bency of office, at least by the time the actual 
spiritual state of his people dawns upon his con- 
sciousness, and places a sense of awful respon- 
ibility upon his conscience. The man in peril, 
however, is not the preacher who, in agony of 
spirit over the indifference, selfishness, and sin- 
fulness of his people, contemplates a possible 
Golgotha. He will probably neither die nor fail. 
Jesus was crucified once for all : few of his dis- 
ciples suffer pain or death for their righteous- 
ness, or for their fidelity to the interests of others. 
Some, however, who have assumed obligations of 
Christian leadership have endured much from 
their own cowardice, or have been self -immolated 
upon altars of backsliding and unfaithfulness. 

No Christian pastor should apologize for ask- 
ing the wealthy to give to good causes liberally. 
A brusque but wise layman said bluntly to one 
who was guilty of this error, "Rich men don't 
give too much money." He was right. Most men 

134 



FAMILY CHUKCHES 

of financial ability give hardly enough to keep 
the fountains of their generosity from becoming 
clogged. Noteworthy improvement in this 
matter is in evidence here and there, but the law 
still holds good. Not merely to give, but to give 
intelligently, systematically, liberally, is a stand- 
ard not yet widely attained. Therefore the 
church, for this is the business of the whole com- 
munity, and not of the pastor only, has yet far 
to go in the matter of financial teaching and 
inspiration. It is a sin to allow men only to give. 
They should be led to think as well as pay in 
Christian terms. They must not be allowed to 
contribute rather than serve, lest they should 
sell their own souls. It is not money distribu- 
tion, but Christian distributors of money which 
the Church should seek to produce. Moreover, 
our age is clairvoyant to the fact that sharers 
and not mere givers of the world's resources is 
the human need. The church which ministers 
to employers of labor falls far short of its duty 
unless it preaches effectively the gospel of good 
wages. Tenement owners must hear much con- 
cerning good housing from the sources of Chris- 
tian instruction and influence. It is important 
to impress the buying class with the religious 
duty of a fair price. All this, even before 
lessons of charity, of missionary contributions, 
and of philanthropies so called, is Christ's pro- 
gram for the twentieth century. Indeed, when 
was it ever not his plan? 

135 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

Will a man make Ms own work hard or easy? 
That depends upon whether he will raise mush- 
rooms and squash, or oaks and maples, sturdy 
boles of righteousness, and "trees of the Lord, 
full of sap." Preachers and churches in the best 
sections of the city are often bitterly assailed. 
I have even heard pulpit demagogues soundly 
denounce them, and not unjustly in those in- 
stances in which pride, luxury, and disregard of 
social obligations are allowed to continue unre- 
buked and unchecked. But an unbiased study 
of the facts would convince even a committee 
from the labor union that no influences are doing 
more for the amelioration of physical conditions 
among the masses than is being accomplished by 
the attitude of many churches and pastors of 
the rich. That some preachers pander to wealth 
and to social injustice, and that certain churches 
are undemocratic and opposed to humanitarian 
progress is no disproof of the above statement. 

It is said that society must be lifted by putting 
the lever under the lower strata. But what is the 
lever that will lift these masses, if not Christian 
character and Christian love applied by the re- 
deemed of God from all walks of life? Therefore 
it is the business of Christianity to save men, but 
not simply the poor, the ignorant, and the lowly. 
Learned, rich, and powerful men and women 
should be brought to Christ, both for their own 
sakes and for the good of many. A mission to 
the upper classes is greatly needed. They should 

136 



FAMILY CHURCHES 

be shown their iniquity, their failures, their 
responsibility, not merely as a whole but individ- 
ually. Who can do this if not the church in the 
exclusive neighborhood and the pastor of the 
rich? Wining and dining in great houses, gossip- 
ing and sporting with fashionable and leisurely 
bodies, flattery and obsequiousness will not do 
this hard work. It will be accomplished only by 
princely men and women who know how to be 
both gracious and fearless, and whose own attain- 
ments and character enable them to speak and to 
act with force. The cure of society's evils is in 
the Christian Church, in its leaders and moral 
products. 

Another trying field is that occupied by the 
church in the older residence sections of the city, 
portions of the town which are completely built 
up, in which most of the property is degenerating 
or at best barely holding its own, out of which 
people who are prospered are slowly moving, 
leaving their houses to less successful people or 
to renters. A static physical environment is not 
an easy place in which to do aggressive work, or 
even to prevent churches thus situated from slip- 
ping backward. The law of life here is adapta- 
tion. Increased democracy and spirituality 
assure a service to the community which may 
benefit as many lives, and may effect as great 
results potentially, as if larger salaries could be 
paid and greater sums expended on the acces- 
sories of worship. This work is vicarious, and its 

137 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

value, as is also the case with that of downtown 
labors, ought to be repaid with greater considera- 
tion, especially with reference to removals of 
membership. These ought never to be solicited 
by churches elsewhere, except upon request from 
pastors and societies affected, or at least with 
their knowledge and permission. 

A pet sin of some city pastors and church mem- 
berships is proselyting. This takes place, not 
only when vital differences of creed make it 
seem at least consistent, as in the case of ortho- 
dox and unorthodox, or of Protestant and Roman 
communions, but it occurs between denomina- 
tions of the same essential faith, and even be- 
tween sister churches of the same ecclesiastical 
connection. It is the cause of much dissatisfac- 
tion, and of great injustice to the weaker or to 
the most vulnerable churches. All are not guilty 
of this despicable practice, but some preachers 
and many laymen seem to have never acquired a 
clear distinction between meum and tuum as 
applied to church members. Ministers of the 
gospel who are supposed to know the eighth com- 
mandment perfectly, and who would not think of 
taking a dollar from another without permission, 
sometimes exhaust many expedients to entice 
from a brother preacher supporters on whom he 
depends for many dollars with which to conduct 
his work. "Like priest like people" in this re- 
spect also, even more like in some cases. 

"Thou shalt not steal!" "But we need mem- 

13S 



FAMILY CHURCHES 

bers." So does the other church. "But these 
people are nearer to us." Another man's purse 
happens to be nearer my hand than his, but it is 
not mine therefore. ''But they would come 
oftener, and get more good in our church." Who 
knows this? Anyway, it is not your business, nor 
can it be made such by any artful or circuitous 
methods. ''But they attend our church part of 
the time now." Naturally, and some of your 
people occasionally^ or more or less regularly, 
drop into other churches, where they like the 
preacher, or the music, or where it is convenient 
when they feel too weary to go to their accus- 
tomed place of worship. It is all in vain to make 
excuses ; the practice is wrong. In cities, church 
members cannot be divided off by blocks. Their 
relationship is not a matter of geography. A 
church is a living body of which its societies are 
the organs, and its members the atoms, or even 
the bones, muscles, and sinews. City people are 
constantly moving — at least large numbers of 
them are very restless. Their membership would 
never be vital if they changed it as often as they 
go from house to house. It takes time to orien- 
tate oneself in a church, to form valuable friend- 
ships, to obtain not only opportunities for use- 
fulness, but that personal acquaintanceship 
and influence which give power to personality. 
Good church members in one place may prove to 
be but nominal adherents or relatively unim- 
portant factors in another society. It is taking 

139 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

a considerable responsibility to advise a change 
in church relations even when one's opinion is 
asked. Certainly, it is not a matter to be can- 
vassed like insurance, though even in so sordid 
a matter as fire and life policies the best agents 
do not, as some church people do, seek to discredit 
their competitors in order to get business away 
from them. 

Theological seminaries should have a chair of 
amenities, and of fraternity, and city preach- 
ers' meetings at least once a season should have a 
discussion of ministerial relations and courtesies. 
Pastors should instruct their people that, while 
all visitors should be made welcome, and while 
members of other churches voluntarily seeking 
their fellowship are to be received with all kind- 
ness, they are to seek the increase of their mem- 
bership by conversion from the Sunday school or 
from the unchurched. Among the latter are 
people who have been for some length of time in 
the city, but who, although they are members 
elsewhere, have never connected themselves with 
any church in town. Some say, ^'Find out such 
cases and report them to the pastor of the church 
which they would naturally join." Such an act 
is very gracious, and is usually appreciated, tend- 
ing toward a genuine Christian fraternity. If 
the notice is given, and is not acted upon, then it 
would seem to be a Christian duty, considering 
city temptations, to get the persons involved into 
one's own church if possible. The reason for 

140 



FAMILY CHUKCHES 

laying emphasis upon this subject is that it is 
a real cause of friction and of injury to church 
work, and the fault, so far as preachers are con- 
cerned, is not alone with pastors ne^^iy coming 
from the country, and ignorant of town condi- 
tions, but with some preachers and laymen also 
who seem to be habitually, if not constitutionally, 
inclined to consider their own interests before all 
others. May they be born anew ! It is necessary, 
however, to suggest that false accusations of 
proselyting may be made against the innocent. 
Members asking for letters sometimes say, 
"Doctor Doe wishes me to unite with his church,'' 
when at most all the good man ever had to do 
with the matter was to reply in a not unfriendly 
manner to their advances. 

One of the special problems to be noted in this 
connection is that of the university church, 
whether it be located in the city or in the country. 
School communities are proverbially critical, 
and the combination of town and gown in the 
same church society is one which it requires 
Christian love and tact to bridge. The one 
recipe for a successful pastorate in a college 
church is to know no man after the mind. It is 
said that it was Galusha Anderson whose son, 
when called to minister to professors and stu- 
dents, asked him what he should preach to men 
who knew so many sciences, philosophies, and 
literatures. "Preach the gospel; they probably 
know very little of that," was the oft quoted, 

141 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

eminently wise retort. In the college church it 
is just as true as elsewhere that the preacher who 
appeals to the hired girl and the serving man, 
if he is also possessed of respectable scholarship, 
reaches the trustee, the dean, and the president. 
But the trouble with most college churches is 
that they do not have sufficient outlet for their 
energy. They are spiritually stuffed and dyspep- 
tic. If it is a sin, as President Eliot contended, 
to arouse emotion without giving it a chance for 
useful expression, it is not less reprehensible to 
add to knowledge without providing for action. 
College churches should inaugurate evangelistic 
movements, institute reforms, undertake local as 
well as support foreign missions, and reach out 
into the life of student body, community, and 
adjacent territory Christian powers and policies. 
The importance of college churches to their de- 
nominations is only beginning to be adequately 
recognized. Some of the churches are not only 
giving greater care to pulpit selections for these 
strategic places, but they are erecting suitable 
buildings for Christian education under de- 
nominational auspices, and for institutional 
work of the type needed by students away from 
home. Universities are showing an encouraging 
hospitality to undertakings of this nature. They 
offer to give credit for biblical and other suitable 
courses of study pursued under church instruc- 
tion. The movement is relatively new, and is 
capable of large development, which seems likely 

142 



FAMILY CHUKCHES 

to result in gTeater religious intelligence and loy- 
alty on the part of both students and members 
of faculties, as well as to counteract the material- 
istic tendencies often associated ^ith the pursuit 
of higher education. Pastoral assistants who are 
yirtuallY student i^astors are now connected Tsi.th 
many college churches. Sometimes they are par- 
tially or wholly supported by general denomina- 
tional funds. The youthfulness and the athletic 
and social interest of these men permit them to 
get into close contact with individual students, 
and to bring their principal pastors into a nearer 
relation with undergraduate life than would 
otherwise be possible. 

Something ought to be said concerning memo- 
rial churches, which are of increasing occurrence. 
In some instances it is merely the desire to 
honor a leader of the church which prefixes his 
name to that of the society. The gift of a very 
small sum of money, or a legacy may occasion the 
grateful use of a personal title. Xow and then 
a church is built and paid for outright as a trib- 
ute to the memory of a loved friend or relative. 
It is difficult to show why these deeds should not 
be performed, provided that the names given are 
honorable, and are not in themselves ridiculous 
or offensive. But if it means exclusive ownership 
or dictatorship of a family or of individuals 
better that the sums be refused, and the churches 
not built. Memorials in churches is another sub- 
ject, and one which receives considerable atten- 

143 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

tion from institutions of a history worth com- 
memorating, and into whose life has gone the 
service of distinguished and admirable person- 
ages. To the minds of many Westminster Abbeys 
are better than cemeteries, and the house of God 
is honored by the recognition of divine goodness 
in raising up strong men and women to serve the 
causes of religion and of philanthropy. City 
churches should preserve their history, and by 
memorial windows, tablets, efiflgies, and various 
adjuncts of worship they may at once impress 
the lesson of honorable antecedents upon succeed- 
ing generations, and teach their members to emu- 
late the illustrious examples of the past. In cap- 
ital cities, especially, each denomination might 
wisely establish a Pantheon, or in the houses of 
worship of these cities generally the historic and 
memorial spirit might well be cultivated. As the 
country grows older instances of such a tendency 
as that indicated are increasing in number and 
in significance. 

The family church in the city shares one great 
sphere of privilege and of duty in common with 
the country church : it may be a nursery of home 
religion, than which no higher office is possible 
to any religious body. Sermons on the home lose 
a good part of their effect in boarding-house 
neighborhoods. Exhortations concerning the 
maintenance of family altars seem relatively out 
of place in far downtown churches, although 
there is moral value in occasional references 

144 



FAMILY CHURCHES 

which apply directly to but a portion of the con- 
gregation. The home idea and the Christian 
ideal for the home must be presented everywhere 
if civilization is not to be destroyed, or its chief 
values lost. But the pastor of families has a 
supreme opportunity to minister in the produc- 
tion of household faith and goodness. It is the 
habit of some persons to sneer at continuous 
rounds of parochial visits, as if they possessed no 
practical value. Everything depends upon what 
is undertaken during the progress of such calls. 
There can be little doubt that, as a rule, the best- 
trained Christians come out of homes represented 
in the smaller city family churches or in the 
country. More time for instruction is available. 
The impact of one Christian family upon another 
is also more powerful and constant. The church 
bulks more largely in family conversation and 
experience. Quiet and unobtrusive as is the work 
done under these circumstances, and intensive 
rather than extensive as its volume may be, the 
Christian social product is very gratifying. 
Moreover, it seems fair to say that in their total 
service to the community and to the world, it is 
not to spectacular churches of the institutional, 
tourist, or missionary type that largest credit 
must at present be given, but to the multitudes of 
ordinary churches of the quieter kind, in whose 
unobtrusive and worshipful services are matured 
sturdy resolutions and virtues, and from whose 
life come forth the characters and resources 

145 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

which sustain the chief institutions of civiliza- 
tion and of Christianity. Without these 
churches, Christian education would perish and 
the glory of Christian missions would fade away. 
Without them Christian philanthropists, states- 
men and reformers would disappear, and the 
noblest movements for civic and national better- 
ment and for human redemption and happiness 
would fail. 

It is frequently charged that there are too 
many churches in the residence districts of cities. 
This may be relatively, but is rarely, if ever, 
absolutely, true. The criticism is based upon the 
fact that churches are sometimes grouped closely 
together, and the idea is maintained that they 
ought to be scattered around where they could 
be reached more conveniently. Experience 
seems to many to prove the very reverse of this, 
for while it is doubtless true that invalids and 
elderly people are sometimes troubled by the dis- 
tances which they have to go in order to reach a 
place of worship, this fact is overbalanced by 
the greater interest and attendance, especially of 
young people, which result from the location of 
churches upon trunk thoroughfares. Moreover, 
the assembling together of church buildings upon 
adjacent properties or blocks tends to create 
tides and centers of attendance which add to the 
popularity of all the societies involved. Of 
course there is a possibility that an ineffective 
preacher or a lethargic congregation may lose 

146 



FAMILY CHURCHES 

out in comparison with more vigorous institu- 
tions, services, and personalities. But a dead 
institution is no more alive for being set apart 
by itself, while by proximity to going concerns it 
is very likely to be inspired and instructed into 
successful ways of managing its services and 
work. Cities like Rochester, Detroit, Des Moines, 
Columbus, and Atlanta, for example, where 
churches in central or neighborhood sections, or 
in both, are well grouped, are among the best 
churchgoing cities in the land, while larger towns 
and smaller alike may be cited in which church 
edifices are more widely distributed without pro- 
ducing as large a proportion of church atten- 
dance. 

For the present, at least, most churches in 
foreign settlements are to be classed among mis- 
sions, and are being managed as such. One of 
the most interesting types of the city neighbor- 
hood church is that in the mill or factory district. 
Here the Church and labor lock arms and walk 
together. There is no difficulty about this when 
the matter is handled properly, for Jesus Christ 
is the workingman's best friend. But he must be 
presented with all his qualities of strength and 
of helpfulness, if men who toil are to be mastered 
by his precepts and to be led into his obedience. 
The demand of the day is that the church serve 
the needs of the community, and not simply live 
off its resources. It is a just demand, and work- 
ing people's churches succeed largely only as they 

147 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

are made hives of Christian helpfulness and 
centers of plain and vital instruction. The writer 
knows from experience that no community re- 
sponds more generally and generously to a pro- 
gram of understanding, sympathy, and affection 
than does a mill people. It is expected in such 
a locality that preachers will put on few frills, 
either in the pulpit or out of it. They are to 
call a mule a mule, to change the usual figure, 
and a lathe a lathe. They are to be no respecters 
of owners, of bosses, or of other persons, except 
for their character and good works. They are to 
be friends and big brothers to everybody. They 
are to waylay the mill boy on his way to work, 
to visit the stricken home of the machinist, and 
to enter the offices of the company without servil- 
ity or fear. They are to be peacemakers, and 
justice-getters on all sides of the labor problem. 
They must know the strength and weakness of 
socialism, the salvation and sin of the labor union, 
the mission and folly of capital. No worthier 
sphere of usefulness exists on earth than that of 
pastor of wage-earners in an industrial center. 
It is to be hoped that the spirit of Christian 
democracy which is represented in the great 
Brotherhood halls and churches of England will 
in time enter more largely into Christian work 
in the United States, and that our better-paid 
and more liberally educated workingmen will be 
more fully recognized in all the plans and coun- 
sels of the Church. 

148 



CHAPTER YIII 
CHURCH ENDOWMENT 

The argument for the endowed church is the 
unendowed church. In the earlier years of their 
history, and in prosperous residence districts of 
city or of country, the establishment of perma- 
nent protective and sustaining funds for churches 
may seem unnecessary, but for the church at the 
center of a municipality of great size, or of one 
which is destined to become very populous, it is 
imperative. "In the big cities all over the 
country," says a student of this subject, "it has 
been realized more and more keenly that these 
churches are needed more than ever in the 
crowded sections, and yet cannot be adequately 
supported by the neighborhood.'' 

A famous instance of alleged mismanagement 
of funds of a wealthy church corporation has 
done much to create prejudice against religious 
endowments. The argument is very partial and 
unfair. It is earnestly contended that the society 
referred to has been misrepresented. If, how- 
ever, trustees of such moneys have once, or a 
score of times, proven themselves selfish or venial, 
if they have misused or misappropriated the 

149 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

sacred sums committed to their care, and if they 
have handled the real estate of their corporations 
in wfiys unworthy or corrupt, these cases have 
been exceptional, and they are not without paral- 
lels of greater number and discredit on the part 
of secular boards and committees. As a matter 
of record, how many instances of such malfeas- 
ance on the part of custodians of church funds 
have been known to have anywhere occurred? 

In any city whose residence districts become 
too far removed the unendowed downtown church 
deteriorates or dies. One or the other of these 
events is just as certain to occur as the sun is 
sure to rise and set. Hundreds of such institu- 
tions, which once throbbed with life and with 
power, and which might be still serving the in- 
terests of teeming multitudes in metropolitan 
towns, have died outright of starvation, or have 
been forced from the places of their largest op- 
portunity to become commonplace parishes of 
inferior service to God and to man. If, in the 
time of their prosperity, wealthy members, who 
might so easily have provided for their future, 
had placed behind these churches a reasonable 
portion of the sums which they left to less worthy 
causes, or to heirs good and bad, wise and foolish, 
they would still be instinct with life, and the 
cities of the land would be less diseased in vital 
organs than we find them to-day. Many men of 
financial ability would gladly have given to 
assure the permanence of the work which loved 

150 



CHUECH ENDOWMENT 

them, and which they loved, but they were unin- 
formed, or were misled with reference to the 
need, and their hour, and that of the church, 
passed together into history. 

The culpable negligence and the prejudice 
against church endowment which have already 
robbed the centers of so many cities of their 
temples of worship, leaving worldliness in full 
possession of the ground, are still in evidence. 
What are the arguments used against the crea- 
tion of Christian strongholds by the establish- 
ment of permanent funds? It is claimed that the 
endowment of a church robs its members of in- 
centives to generosity, or at least of the necessity 
for self-denial, leaving them to an easy and self- 
indulgent Christian experience. This might be 
true, if the growing needs of church life and work 
in the city did not demand ever greater expend- 
itures, in sums far beyond the resources of the 
average congregation. Let it be conceded that in 
a small town with a fixed population an en- 
dowment fund might rather paralyze religious 
zeal than inspire activity and sacrifice. It may 
also be admitted that in some city residence and 
suburban districts the need for larger sums than 
can be provided by current receipts is not at 
present apparent. The case is wholly different 
with church work located in business portions 
of large cities, in mission territory, and in local- 
ities filled up with habitants, but decadent in 
property values. In these situations at least, 

151 



THE CHUECH IN THE CITY 

though not in these only, the money needed to do 
an adequate work cannot be realized permanently 
from the local constituency, nor is the field of 
service so limited in scope that any probable en- 
dowment will either overmeet the need or relieve 
the people who cooperate of the requirement to 
give as well as to toil. Acquaintance with several 
churches having some financial reserve has shown 
their members and adherents doing fully as much 
per capita in the way of material support as is 
done by other societies of similar resources. 

Another objection to church endowment is that 
the funds might not be wisely handled by the 
boards of officers to whose care they were com- 
mitted. This criticism is not based on actual 
instances of infidelity to trust, or of inefficient 
management, but is merely hypothetical and pre- 
dictive. Why is not a church board as able to 
care for money as are the directors of a school, 
hospital, or Young Men's Christian Association? 
The position of any who think that churches are 
incapable of preserving and of properly admin- 
istering trust funds is indefensible. As a matter 
of fact, many such responsibilities are now being 
discharged, and as successfully as any bank or 
trust company conducts its business. And why 
not? Since when did the Church lack financial 
ability equal to great and important undertak- 
ings, and when has the Church been without a 
commercial reliability which would compare 
favorably with that of other public institutions? 

152 



CHURCH ENDOWMENT 

Finally, it is said, ''The Church doesn^t need 
the money.'- Doesn't need it? Certainly, organ- 
izations which have perished from lack of provi- 
sion for times of stress no longer need money. 
But churches which desire to escape a like fate 
must somewhere find wise and generous friends 
who will prepare them for the emergencies of 
the future. 

City churches, as a rule, have fallen behind 
other institutions in point of organization and of 
adaptation to the life of the age. Churches in 
central locations, as has been said elsewhere, 
cannot work in ancient ways, and without 
modern facilities and a suflflcient force of helpers, 
and expect to accomplish the ends which intelli- 
gence and a spirit of progress desire. For the 
lack of sufficient funds many such societies have 
become second-rate affairs, offering to the public 
a cheap service and limited privileges of any 
kind. Poor preaching, wretched music, bare 
and dingy auditoriums and social rooms, and 
the absence of attractive institutional features 
will not enable churches to compete with pal- 
aces of sin and with resorts of doubtful amuse- 
ment by which in some cases they are surrounded. 
Hundreds of downtown churches are capable 
of being made bright and popular, and if the 
sums which their members can give were sup- 
plemented Avith sufficient interest incomes to 
render them places of beauty and of interest- 
ing activity, they would capture thousands of 

153 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

young people who are now crowding the well- 
furnished and busy temples of the world. 

Let it be repeated that churches, with few ex- 
ceptions, are insufficiently manned, defectively 
organized, and inadequately equipped for the 
greatest usefulness. Roman churches have the 
more numerous forces of workers, whom they are 
able to secure at small cost. The great expend- 
itures of the Church have been going to educa- 
tion, to missions, and to philanthropies independ- 
ently controlled. Vast sums, both current and 
endowment, are given to colleges, to hospitals, to 
rescue and to foreign missions, and to inter- 
denominational Christian associations. It is no 
disparagement of these worthy benevolences to 
say that for their sake the source from which 
they derive sustenance ought not to be impover- 
ished and w^eakened. Why should a Young Men's 
Christian Association be able to open splendid 
parlors and gymnasiums, and to employ a dozen 
or twenty officers, or even more, while a church 
as eligibly located to do good, and having a con- 
stituency, including members and adherents, 
larger than that of the Association, is confined 
to old buildings, and to two or three workers, 
including the sexton? The Church, if made effec- 
tive, stands more closely related both to family 
and to personal life than is possible in the case of 
any interdenominational society. - Hospitals re- 
quire increasing outlays of enormous sums that 
they may possess the most costly plants and 

154 



CHUECH ENDOWMENT 

apparatus. Nothing is too mucli for the heal- 
ing of the body. Is it, then, of no importance 
that the centers of our cities are filled with the 
spiritually crippled and diseased, who with 
proper effort and outlay might be restored to 
soundness of heart? Is it not, rather, the fact 
that moral wholeness and wholesomeness are 
worthy of far greater care and expenditure of 
labor and of means than are physical restoration 
and health? The Church should claim the sup- 
port necessary to place it abreast of the age, and 
equal to the mighty task of redemption, and of 
the development of character, which is laid upon 
it. 

The work of the school is of undeniable value. 
But what avails it to sharpen the wits and to 
train the hands of those whose hearts are evil? 
The time approaches, and it is brought nearer by 
the great progress of the state school, when the 
millions of Christian philanthropy now lavished 
upon denominational colleges will need to be de- 
voted to the task of Christianizing the whole edu- 
cational system through the strengthening and 
development of the Church and of church insti- 
tutions at all seats of learning. Religion has a 
poor chance of respect and of power when the 
school is far more handsomely housed than is the 
Church, and when its instructors are more 
numerous, better trained for their tasks, and 
more adequately remunerated than are the lead- 
ers of the Church. 

155 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

The cause of missions is worthy of most zealous 
regard, but it ought to be possible for a city 
church to pay as good salaries, and thus to secure 
as good men to assist the pastor, and to learn 
the great offices of the Christian ministry, as are 
given to raw graduates who go to foreign lands. 
American municipalities are among the greatest 
mission fields on earth. They have whole cities 
of foreigners in their heart. But the old- 
fashioned church, with its overburdened pastor, 
who rarely has more than one or two helpers, and 
those poorly paid, is not equipped, manned, or or- 
ganized to reach these people. This is the tragedy 
of the city, the peril of the nation, and the menace 
of the Christian faith. Christianity must capture 
the city, and it must reach the alien, as well as 
the native elements in the city, or the battle of 
religion is lost. 

It is by no means the purpose of this discussion 
to attack Christian philanthropy in any of its 
forms. The thought is, rather, to call attention 
to the great development which has taken place 
in the machinery and manning of auxiliary Chris- 
tian institutions, while the Church itself has been 
allowed to stand still, or to fall behind, in its 
power to meet modern demands. A visitor to 
New York city, being asked what he thought of 
the Christian organization of the immense town, 
after some reflection replied, "I confess that 
when I put your churches and their force of 
workers over against the men and means em- 

156 



CHURCH ENDOWMENT 

ployed here by the world, the flesh, and the devil, 
it seems to me like attempting to dip out the 
ocean with a teaspoon. '^ Vast regions in the 
congested cosmopolitan heart of New York were 
years since deserted by the Church. The few 
societies left to cope with the most desperate 
situations are usually established in buildings 
dark and foul, and some of them are furnished 
with little or nothing in the way of attractions 
for the throng. Endowments, placed long ago in 
days of opportunity, would not only have kept 
the churches where they are most needed, but 
would have given to intelligence and to piety the 
means of maintaining these plants in a high state 
of efficiency, with progressive adaptations to the 
changing conditions and to the varied life sur- 
rounding them. 

Every Christian society with a growing field 
may wisely encourage its prosperous members to 
perpetuate their labors and influence by benefac- 
tions and legacies to the church, and not only to 
their own institution, but to downtown work. 
The church of the greatest problems and oppor- 
tunities should receive the consideration and the 
benefactions of all the churches. Christianity 
should have the wisdom to centralize in the 
center. Good generalship demands that organ- 
izations on the firing line be maintained in vigor 
by the resources of the organization as a whole. 
This work is to some extent being done through 
city missionary societies, perhaps called church 

157 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

extension societies, and which are sometimes 
under excellent local management. Serious prob- 
lems confront those who are engaged in such 
organizations, and arise out of them. One of 
the difficulties is to secure continuous represen- 
tative membership for the necessary boards. 
Another is the old problem of capable execu- 
tives. A third relates itself to the control of 
properties. A number of denominations vest 
all titles in the general Church, or in a bishop 
as the local chief officer. Great extension 
value is found in this arrangement, since it is 
thus made easy to handle wise changes of site 
and of buildings, and the entire credit value of 
the lands and improvements so held may be util- 
ized for the good of the denomination in the city 
as a whole. In the year 1906 it was reported by 
authority of the government that more than one 
half of all city church debts were on properties of 
the Roman Catholics. This in part accounts for 
the phenomenal extensions made by Romanism 
during recent years. More commonly each local 
church is independent, and in this case it is rarely 
found that a sufficiently strong connectional 
bond is recognized, nor is such a church willing 
to make concessions or changes of the kind 
needed for the general development of the cause 
which it is supposed to represent. In many in- 
stances the local missionary or church extension 
societies hold the titles to the properties which 
they have helped secure, or which they have sub- 

158 



CHUECH ENDOWMENT 

stantially aided, or they possess mortgage secur- 
ities for moneys which they have advanced or 
permanently invested. The officers of such socie- 
ties are inclined to take a conservative attitude 
with reference to* funds intrusted to individual 
church societies. The secretary of one of these 
bodies in America's leading city says that it is 
coming to be the generally accepted opinion that 
it is not wise to endow churches. He says that 
results in the case of the most conspicuous ex- 
ample of a locally endowed church of his own 
denomination have not justified the wisdom of 
this procedure. "A general holding institution 
such as the City Missionary Society/' he declares, 
"should have the control of such endowments to 
provide for the administration of the work. If 
not the City Missionary Society, then some other 
broadly representative board of trustees should 
be thus empowered." 

While, of course, matters of great present and 
potential value should not be decided by refer- 
ence to single instances of success or failure, a 
great deal is to be said in favor of the represen- 
tative general holding of real estate and endow- 
ments of city churches, preferably not by the 
same body whose business is chiefly that of 
administration, but by a strong and unprejudiced 
board of trustees, headed in the case of episcopal 
churches by the bishop in charge, and before 
whom both the City Missionary or Church Exten- 
sion Society and the individual church might 

159 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 



p" 



appear with facts germane to any issue involvin 
the future of valuable properties and vested 
funds. Weight is lent to this argument by the 
admission of a prominent city society ofScial who 
says : "Apropos of selling out churches, it seems 
to me that some new legislation is required to 
conserve the resources of our denomination in 
our cities. City societies, under their State 
charters, may mortgage and sell church prop- 
erties in their possession without reference to 
congregation, Conference, or official board, a vote 
of their own boards being all that is necessary. 
The history of the past reveals the fact that much 
money realized from the sale of church properties 
has been expended none too wisely by our city 
societies. Had the equity realized from the sale 
of church properties been retained as a trust 
fund, several of our city societies would now be 
in possession of so large an endowment that the 
interest therefrom would be greater than their 
present income.'^ 

Meanwhile few cities except those of the first 
or second grades have either missionary or exten- 
sion societies, or any general trustee boards. 
Endowments cannot await the days of great 
municipal growth without running the risk of 
becoming impossible by reason of the death or 
removal of those who can furnish them. Prob- 
ably the wisest plan is not to discourage the 
foundation of trust funds, but to see that future 
interests are safeguarded by suitable clauses in 

160 



CHURCH ENDOWMENT 

the instruments by which they are devised, giving 
final authority in certain named or generally sug- 
gested events to responsible Conference, synod- 
ical, or diocesan bodies. Indeed, such a provi- 
sion is so evidently and so eminently wise that 
all pastors and laymen whose advice may be 
sought by intending benefactors ought to give 
this matter careful consideration. 

The tendency to endow various branches of 
service within the organization, as well as the 
local church itself, is increasingly apparent. A 
typical illustration is the old First Church of 
Christ in Hartford, in whose burial plot is the 
grave of the first American ancestor of the author 
of this book. Some years ago the pastor preached 
an informing sermon on the "Duty of this Gener- 
ation to this Church," in the course of which he 
took the position that endowments and their in- 
comes arising from "unearned increments'' are 
seldom of real service to any church. One may be 
in hearty sympathy with protests made against 
swollen fortunes, due to increases in land values 
and acquired without personal effort or sacrifice, 
but it is surely better that such funds, if in- 
herited by any, should be in the hands of societies 
serving the needs of the public. While it would 
not be just to suppose that the preacher's view 
might have been different had not a land fund 
once possessed by his parish been alienated, it is 
easier to follow him in the advices which he 
gives his people to deal generously with their 

161 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

historic church in gifts and legacies. This is one 
of the sacred duties of Christian devotion, and in 
urging it upon his congregation the pastor pro- 
ceeded to describe a fund begun by small contri- 
butions made in 1802 and which has produced 
most excellent results in the care and mainte- 
nance of the church plant. Another endowment 
acquired by the same society from various 
sources assists the poor of the parish. Still 
another is for the work of the chapel, another 
for a Teachers' Library, to which funds for the 
care of the communion service and for home 
and foreign missions have been added. These 
endowments and others have grown, as may be 
discovered from the statistics of the Congrega- 
tional Year Book, which also discloses the fact 
that at present invested funds of Congregational 
churches in America amount to some ten mil- 
lions of dollars. Speaking of central and down- 
town churches generally, the field secretary of the 
Congregational Church Building Society says, 
"Churches of this character are more and more 
calling for endowments, and I am of the opinion 
that more of such work must be done in centers 
of our rapidly changing cities. Churches must be 
anchored, and made free, as Dr. Rainsford used 
to argue." The pastor of Pilgrim Church, Cleve- 
land, which has a substantial invested fund, says, 
"We are urging all churches to accumulate some 
endowment," and also, "I favor endowment to 
meet necessary fixed charges and repairs, en- 

162 



CHURCH ENDOWMENT 

abling the living people to do missionary work." 
The two above suggestions, that permanent fixed 
incomes tend to free the house of God for the use 
of the people, and also enable the present genera- 
tion to consider matters of greater human impor- 
tance than the question of their own subsistence, 
are worthy of much respect. Broadway Taber- 
nacle, New York; New First Church, Chicago; 
Euclid Avenue, Cleveland; Second Church and 
Windsor Avenue, Hartford; First Church, 
Columbus; First Church, Fall River; People's 
Church, Saint Paul, are possessed of respectable 
investments. Park Street, Boston, has a good- 
sized income from rentals. 

The Protestant Episcopal Church has given 
much attention to endowments. These are for 
the main plant, and for various parochial uses. 
For example, Christ Church Cathedral, Louis- 
ville, Kentucky, has both Choir and Auxiliary 
Choir Funds, a Deanery Fund, and a Fund for 
the Sick Poor, the Cathedral endowment being 
the main establishment. Saint George's Church, 
Stuyvesant Square, New York city, has a Christ- 
mas Fund, Deaconess House Endowment, a 
Danne Bequest for the Church Cottages for 
Summer Relief, and a Camp Rainsford Endow- 
ment. Among other leading endowed churches 
whose success may be studied through their own 
Year Books, are the Cathedral, Boston, which 
also owns real estate in the heart of the city from 
whose rental it is chiefly supported ; the Church 

163 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

of the Advent, Boston, distinguished, says the 
rector, as the first free church in New England ; 
Grace, Manchester; Church of the Epiphany, 
Washington; Saint Paul's, Buffalo; Trinity, 
Pittsburgh; Christ Church Cathedral, Saint 
Louis; and many others. The most conspicuous 
example of a rich church corporation in America 
is, of course. Trinity Church, New York city. Of 
the income of this noted parish and its expend- 
iture the rector states : "The total amount avail- 
able for church purposes from our endowments 
last year was |425,952. This, as you will see, 
was all expended in the maintenance of nine 
churches in the city of New York, most of them 
in the poorest and most difficult parts of the city, 
all of them ministering in overwhelming propor- 
tion to the poor and those of limited income, and 
also in maintaining our educational and chari- 
table work, etc. Our balance sheet at the end of 
the year showed a large deficit, as it has for 
several years past, resulting from the fact that 
while our income is large our work and, above 
all, our opportunity for work is immeasurably 
larger. It may interest you to know that we use 
the Duplex Envelope System throughout all the 
churches of Trinity Parish, so that our work is 
supported not only by endowments but by the 
freewill offerings of our people, who are encour- 
aged to give all that they can.'' 

Another instructive statement, which is that 
of the rector of Christ Church, Cincinnati, indi- 

164 



CHURCH ENDOWMENT 

cates at the same time a method of securing per- 
manent funds and the beneficial effects of their 
use. "The church took a new start. The seats 
were thrown open to all, pew rents were abol- 
ished, and a Parish House was built. From that 
time on the church has grown steadily and is 
stronger to-day than it has ever been. In 1900 
there were about five hundred communicants, 
and there are now over twelve hundred. There 
was then a small endowment fund which had 
been started a few years before, but no special 
efforts had been made to increase it. The inter- 
est was allowed to accumulate, and was added 
to the principal ; but the future need of an endow- 
ment was now becoming very apparent be- 
cause of the steady removal of the well to do 
people from the neighborhood to the suburbs. 
The Christmas offering every year w^as asked for 
the endowment fund, and |1,000 set as the 
amount to be given. The older people were urged 
to remember this fund in their wills, and it was 
set before them as an appropriate object for 
memorials. In consequence, we now have an en- 
dowment fund of about |127,000 which we hope 
to increase within the next few years to at least 
1200,000 or 1250,000. This endowment is di- 
vided into four parts. A little over |40,000 is 
an endowment of the church proper, the income 
being devoted to current expenses. There is an 
endowment of between $75,000 and $80,000 on 
the Parish House; of |5,000 on the Sunday 

165 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

school, and |1,000 for the purchase of growing 
plants to be given to the children of the Sunday- 
school at Easter." 

The Protestant Episcopal Church in the West 
reports comparatively little success as yet with 
reference to permanent funds. The Bishop of 
San Francisco says: "On this coast and in this 
diocese, owing to many causes existing in the 
newer parts of our country, we have very few 
endowments for our churches." The Bishop of 
New York makes an interesting statement con- 
cerning the churches in his care : "Quite a num- 
ber are partially endowed, a few to a very con- 
siderable amount, and yet none of them is 
wholly independent of the freewill offerings of 
the congregation, or a revenue from pew rents." 
An even more significant fact concerning Balti- 
more churches is contained in this testimony 
of the rector of the Church of the Messiah: 
"There are four or five of our churches in 
Baltimore partially endowed — say from |100,- 
000 to 1150,000. But so far, I am glad to say, 
they are raising more money than ever from their 
present membership for the work." It is evident 
that the Protestant Episcopal Church is actively 
enlisted in the cause of permanent incomes, and 
is not conscious of any evils arising from expe- 
rience in the use of such funds sufficiently serious 
to induce the leaders to discourage the accumula- 
tion of moneys which make them possible. 

It seems certain that the two denominations 

166 



CHURCH ENDOWMENT 

above named are the leaders in the acquisition of 
trust funds for the maintenance of their plants 
and for other purposes. Probably the Presbyte- 
rian Church ranks next, although many of the 
greatest central societies of this faith are depend- 
ent wholly upon current subscriptions and col- 
lections. Indei^endent Presbyterian Church, 
Savannah, is in the endowment column with 
quite a sum to its credit. Several Detroit Pres- 
byterian churches are slightly, and one is pros- 
pectively largely, endowed. The First Churches 
of New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore are 
in this class, and Brick Church, Eochester, has 
a fund encouragingly started. The Second Pres- 
byterian Church of Newark receives a very sub- 
stantial income from its investments, and two 
other Presbyterian churches of the same city are 
in the list of societies for whose continued 
prosperity some provision has been made. Of 
institutions thus fortunate it is said, however, 
that ^'the percentage in the denomination is very 
smair' — a statement borne out by statistics. 
Among the other churches it may safely be 
affirmed that debts are quite as numerous as are 
endowments, which may not at all imply inferior 
efficiency in their present work, or any certainty 
that their future interests will not ultimately be 
assured. The Collegiate churches in New York, 
and occasionally such a Reformed Society as the 
First of Albany, are financially well found. The 
Methodist Protestant Church, Seattle, is pos- 

167 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

sessed of a modest vested fund. The Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, has erected a large 
building in Los Angeles, which is intended to 
become an important income producer. Of Bap- 
tist churches "only a few have any endowment at 
all," although a tendency to look into this matter 
more carefully is manifested. When the com- 
bined First Church and hotel property at Syra- 
cuse is paid for, its institutional features should 
provide an excellent income for Christian work. 
Second Baptist, Fall Kiver, receives the rental of 
some business property. "The wisdom of endow- 
ment," says the pastor of Calvary Church, Wash- 
ington, "in my judgment depends on local con- 
siderations, history, environment, locality, prob- 
abilities." Keporting few endowments in his de- 
nomination, the pastor of Central Church of 
Christ, Des Moines, Iowa, adds, "My information 
is that those that are endowed are not most suc- 
cessful." Similarly, a New York city Methodist 
authority says, "Eesults at Washington Square, 
the most conspicuous example of a locally en- 
dowed church, have not justified the wisdom of 
this procedure." Metropolitan Temple, New 
York, by consolidation with another Methodist 
parish, obtained a respectable permanent fund, 
and several similar consolidations elsewhere have 
obtained like results, although such increments 
have sometimes been absorbed by building enter- 
prises and by current expenses. The historic 
mother church of Michigan, Central of Detroit, 

168 



CHUECH ENDOWMENT 

from property adjacent to the church building, 
and in part devoted to parish uses, receives sup- 
port for the institution as a whole. First 
Church, Cleveland, obtained an endowment from 
the sale of a former site. Grand Avenue Church, 
Kansas City, receives at present a small revenue 
from its adjoining large office building, which 
later is expected to provide generous sums. 
A number of New England churches have modest 
interest incomes for current expenses, but these 
funds are relatively insignificant. First Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, Chicago, is itself an en- 
dowment for the Methodism of Cook County, 
Illinois. The society was formed before Chi- 
cago had a city charter, and its location was 
changed several times, until the present site on 
the corner of Clark and Washington Streets was 
secured. By the charter the property held by 
this corporation may furnish only |2,000 a year 
to the support of the work of First Church itself, 
the remainder of a very considerable revenue 
going for church building and improvement in 
the county. ^'From 1865 to 1907 contributions 
for this purpose were made to one hundred and 
thirty-eight churches, and the sum of |632,583.93 
was donated.'' The total of all church extension 
work from this source has now amounted to 
nearly $800,000. This instance of an endowment 
which has proved to be productive of widespread 
results is both interesting and suggestive. The 
officiary of First Church, Chicago, are not 

169 



THE CHUECH IN THE CITY 

tempted to any great extravagance by the por- 
tion of property incomes which falls into their 
hands for use in current expenses. Dependence 
upon strenuous efforts for self-support must still 
be necessary, but the denomination in the second 
city of the nation has been able to reach out into 
places of need with initial expenditures which 
would have seemed impossible had not such a 
fund been accessible as that supplied by the in- 
come of the First Church property. The propor- 
tionate amount allowed to the work of the soci- 
ety itself was not sufficiently generous. Had the 
developments of the future been foreseen, the 
plan would surely have been so changed as to 
allow a reasonable percentage of revenues, in- 
stead of a small flat sum, to be utilized in car- 
ing for the local work. Intending benefactors of 
important church foundations will act wisely, if 
they consider carefully the possibilities of growth 
and of necessities covering long periods of time. 
Otherwise they may defeat the chief purpose of 
their gifts. 

The literature published by many strong 
churches contains such expressions as the fol- 
lowing from the Year Book of a central society 
of the Middle West: "The time will come — it 
may not come in our generation, but it will 
surely come — when we will no longer have in 
this Cathedral men of wealth, men of influence, 
men of high position in social and commercial 
life. When that time comes will God's work 

170 



CHURCH ENDOWMENT 

and the work of this Cathedral be ended; shall 
our glory have departed forever? Shall that 
come upon us that has come upon many a down- 
town church in our cities? Shall we not, on the 
other hand, we of this generation, we who still 
have it in our power, so provide for the future 
through our Endowment Fund that we can give 
to the people of smaller means and greater needs 
the same richness of material for worship, the 
same breadth of opportunity for service, that we 
so abundantly enjoy to-day? Pray God that he 
may put it into our hearts and minds to choose 
this better course.'' This passage offers an argu- 
ment in behalf of permanent funds which justi- 
fies its inclusion here, and which will doubtless 
prove provocative of further thought in the same 
direction. Correspondence with many city pas- 
tors of various denominations contains frequent 
expressions like the following: "We hope First 
Church will be endowed — in my judgment the 
only hope of the downtown proposition." "The 
church of which I am pastor is now planning a 
new office building which when constructed will 
be in the nature of an endowment." "If the 
church is to maintain its efficiency, it mil have to 
have endowment in the near future." "As yet 
only a beginning: I hope ultimately to secure 
from $200,000 to $250,000." The pastor of a 
church in the university area of a large city says : 
"I am trying now to build a foundation building, 
with dormitory facilities, which will serve as a 

171 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

home for students, and incidentally give us some 
returns of an endowment character. If this can- 
not be done, the church will eventually have to be 
endowed, or our work will suffer.'' On the other 
hand, it is reported concerning a central church 
in a city of two hundred and fifty thousand popu- 
lation : "First Church is not endowed, nor do we 
see the necessity for that, at present at least." 
Two thirds of the principal cities of the United 
States report as yet no endowment upon any of 
their churches. 

A survey of the field seems to reveal a number 
of general facts. It is apparent that most of the 
churches which have income-producing accumu- 
lations or properties are in the greater cities, a 
few only being in places of less than a hundred 
and fifty thousand population. Invested funds 
are mainly in the older and richer communities 
of the East, but slight accumulations of this kind 
being as yet found in the middle West, and al- 
most none in the Far West or in the South. The 
churches of greatest evangelistic energy and 
growth are almost wholly dependent upon in- 
comes from living members. It will be ques- 
tioned whether the absence of endowments is the 
cause or an effect of the religious activity of these 
bodies of Christians, if, indeed, any relationship 
exists between the two facts. Or is it that the 
older denominations are very naturally those 
which have amassed property? This seems the 
case, however one may view the query to which 

172 



CHURCH ENDOWMENT 

reference has just been made. Another surface 
indication, which may prove to represent a funda- 
mental law, is that the denominations which 
have attained greatest influence in city life seem 
to be those, many of whose societies have strongly 
intrenched themselves behind walls of financial 
accumulations. The attitude to this matter 
taken in this volume is based upon a high degree 
of probability that church life can no more pow- 
erfully affect vast and growing centers of popu- 
lation without the aid of equivalent monetary 
resources than can business corporations. It is 
predicted that the denominations which neglect 
to make generous provision for permanence and 
progress in city work mil find the field slipping 
away from them into more capable hands. It 
may also be maintained that during late years 
endoAved churches seem to be gaining marvel- 
ously in democracy and in religious attack. 

It should be repeated here that the failure to 
endow" city churches, which has resulted in the 
abandonment or the weakness of many societies, 
is not to be attributed in any marked degree to 
lack of confidence or of affection on the part of 
members, but to want of thoughtfulness, to the 
absence of information, and to false impres- 
sions made by those whose business judgment 
has not led them to see that in the great centers, 
certainly, the Church of Christ has the same 
needs and requires the same business care as that 
which is given to other institutions. Wise use of 

173 



THE CHUECH IN THE CITY 

printer's ink, frequent announcements, and the 
quiet advice of personal intercourse enable 
pastors and laymen to bring to the churches 
which they love valuable permanent acquisitions 
which may fix them forever in seats of poAver. If 
money works when men are sleeping, and even 
when the grave has claimed the donors, why not 
let it work for Christ, and directly through 
his Church? He who loved the Church and gave 
himself for it; who said, ^'I will build my 
church,'' and who is himself its "chief corner 
stone," will bless the gifts of those who conse- 
crate their thoughts and deeds to the work of 
establishing enduring and mighty centers of 
divine life and of Christian activity. He who 
commended the woman who put all her living 
into the treasury of God cannot fail to expect 
those of his followers who have property to devise 
to remember first of all, or immediately after 
they have provided reasonably for the needs of 
the lives which are dependent upon them, the 
interests of the organized and on the whole ef- 
fective society which represents the kingdom of 
Christ and carries forward its activities. The 
disposition made of their property will possibly 
be one of the most embarrassing questions which 
many persons will meet in the final Judgment. 



174 



CHAPTER IX 

THE TEEND TOWAED INSTITUTION- 
ALISM 

The present key word with reference to all 
undertakings is "efficiency." It is an idea not 
without perils which is presented to the mind by 
a term so frankly utilitarian. No harm will 
result from the determination to apply to reli- 
gious organizations and customs the pragmatic 
test if spiritual values are taken into the ac- 
count. But if, as some persons insist, the de- 
mand be made that the Church vindicate its right 
to a place in the sun solely or even primarily by 
bread-and-butter benefactions, emphasis needs 
to be placed upon the teaching of our Lord, "Man 
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word 
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.'' 

Soup kitchens, industrial classes, gymnasiums, 
works of physical healing, social and political 
reforms, educational and missionary offerings 
and activities have their appropriate place in the 
program of Christianity, but not as substitutes 
for religion, which is motive power for the attain- 
ment of morality and for the prosecution of phi- 
lanthropies, and which possesses substantial 
worth of its own. Worship has a real value be- 

175 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

yond all that is tangible. Prayer is more neces- 
sary to life than is food. Evangelism is still the 
magnum opus of the Church, producing Chris- 
tian character and experience and the highest 
usefulness. The human and temporal services of 
the Church are to be determined and weighed 
with reference to this end, and should neither be 
rendered nor acclaimed as constituting in them- 
selves the object to be sought by Christian pur- 
pose. It is materialism, not spirituality nor 
wisdom, which exclaims, ^^Turn the church into 
a lodging house, and set the preachers serving 
tables." This attitude of mind is unjustified, 
even though it represent in part a protest against 
surviving mediaeval tendencies which seek to re- 
move religious houses and personages from con- 
tact with tempted and suffering humanity, and 
which regard the true offlce and expression of 
Christianity as being contemplative, rather than 
practical. "We have a strict rule," says a safe 
advocate and representative of modern methods 
of church management, "that there shall be no 
institutional work that is not connected in some 
way with definite religious work." 

Two thirds of the one hundred leading cities 
of America report no institutional Protestant 
churches in the strict definition of the term, and 
one third of the remaining principal cities name 
but one such plant each. It is somewhat doubt- 
ful whether it should be claimed that Romanism 
possesses churches of this nature, but it is evi- 

176 



TREND TOWARD INSTITUTIONALISM 

dent that the various Catholic brotherhoods and 
orders in many cases furnish their members ^T.th 
social facilities usually connotated with the term 
^"institutional." The Knights of Columbus have 
many well-housed organizations whose members 
enjoy advantages physical, literary, social, and 
religious. Young Men's Institutes, insurance 
orders, and sodalities engage upon activities of 
the most practical nature, although these socie- 
ties are not given space in church buildings 
proper. In my volume on Christian Brother- 
hoods abundant material may be found to estab- 
lish the fact that, according to its own genius, the 
ancient Church of Rome has established an insti- 
tutionalism of an exceedingly broad and attrac- 
tive nature, and with features which well repay 
exact study. 

The Protestant Episcopal Church leads its 
sister communions in the field of endeavor 
which is under present consideration. In the 
Diocese of New York nearly all the parishes are 
doing some institutional work, and many are 
conducting great enterprises of this kind. 
Among the latter are Saint Bartholomew's, 
Grace, Saint George's, Saint Thomas's, Trinity, 
Saint James's, and the Incarnation, all of which 
are influential churches with large parish houses 
doing important service. A perusal of the Year 
Book of Saint George's Church in the city of New 
York gives a typical picture of the condition of 
affairs in a strong institutional parish. The list 

177 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

of buildings consists of (1) Saint George's 
Church, (2) Saint George's Centennial Chapel, 
(3) Choir House, (4) Rectory, (5) Memorial 
House (Parish Building), (6) Deaconess House, 
(7) Boys' Industrial Trade School, (8) Seaside 
Cottages (three) and tents (six), (9) Camp 
Rainsford (for boys). There are Saint George's 
scholarships in Trinity School, in the General 
Theological Seminary and in the Educational 
Fund. Endowed beds are at the disposal of the 
parish in Postgraduate Hospital and Stony 
Wood Sanitarium, and it possesses a burial plot 
in New York Bay Cemetery. Important publica- 
tions are the annual Year Book, the weekly Bul- 
letin, a parish paper. The History of Saint 
George's Church in the City of New York, and 
The Administration of an Institutional Church, 
the annual and paper being freely distributed, 
and the latter works constituting elaborate 
volumes at three dollars each. The budget of 
the parish for a recent year totaled something 
above |100,000, of which |28,000 was for salaries, 
approximately |12,000 for general benevo- 
lences, and the balance for parish work. The 
endowment furnished a net income above |36,000, 
the balance of the |100,000 representing various 
subscriptions, collections, and fees. This state- 
ment of the rector is important : "Our work here 
is primarily spiritual. The greatest need of our 
time is a strong emphasis upon the reality of spir- 
itual things. So much is being done everywhere 

178 



TREND TOWARD INSTITUTIONALISM 

for the physical and social needs of people that 
spiritual teaching is often left out of adequate 
consideration. We have steadily insisted upon 
doing all that is possible to be done, physically 
and socially, and we have not left the other un- 
done, for here at Saint George's our aim is, and 
will ever be, to keep Christ and the gospel plainly 
and invariably in our minds and hearts as the 
chief and fundamental reason for all we are, and 
all we do, and as the only guide and salvation of 
this present human life.'' 

The force used by Saint George's includes the 
rector, Tvith six assistant clergy and as many dea- 
conesses, a parish nurse, two organists, five secre- 
taries, an Evening Trade School superintendent, 
Sunday school officers, two sextons, librarian, 
gymnasium instructor, and officers of women's 
societies. Taken at random from the list of hours 
of classes and meetings published in the Year 
Book the following entries will serve to illustrate 
the diversity of Saint George's interests: Sun- 
day school, Men's Club, Rector's Confirmation 
Class, Free Circulating Library, Women's Indus- 
trial Society, Saint George's Lunch Room, Dea- 
coness House Committee, Knights of Saint 
George, Model Flat Classes, Boys' Club, Girls' 
Friendly Society, Trade School, King's Daugh- 
ters, Athletic Committee; Relief Department: 
Sale of Clothing; Missionary Society, English 
Class, Happy Hour Club, Married Women's 
Society, Mothers' Meeting, Gymnasium Class for 

179 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

Girls and Women, and many more. The statis- 
tical report shows additions to membership for 
the year, through confirmation 123, transfer 13, 
and otherwise 168, total 304. The losses total 
119 ; by transfer, 19 ; death, 34 ; otherwise, 66. 

The Year Book and Register of the Parish of 
Trinity Church in the city of New York is a 
formidable volume of five hundred pages, with 
elaborate illustrations. The cost of work in the 
church and several chapels and properties of this 
heavily endowed parish is stated elsewhere. 
Among institutional topics which head the Year 
Book reports may be mentioned: Parish Day 
Schools, Cooking, Laundry and House Schools, 
Trinity College Scholarships, beds at Saint 
Luke's and Saint Mark's Hospitals, Burial Place 
for the Poor, Work among Immigrants from Ellis 
Island, Night School, Midday Services for Busi- 
ness People, Church Periodical Club, Saint 
Elizabeth's Society for the care of aged women. 
Ladies' Employment Society (furnishes sewing 
to the poor). Guilds for Boys, Girls and Women, 
Young Men's Club, Boy Scouts, Noonday Club 
for Deaf Mutes, Shut-In Society, Night Workers' 
Services, All-Night Mission, Employment Bu- 
reau, Singing Classes, Brotherhood of Saint 
Andrew, Athletic Association, Vacation and Sew- 
ing Schools, Boys' Industrial Class, Night School 
for Italians, Military Drill, Open Air Services, 
Seaside Home, Children's Playground, and 
others. A valuable piece of work done by the 

180 



TEEND TOWARD INSTITUTIONALISM 

men of Trinity Church, and indicative of possi- 
bilities elsewhere, was a social survey of the 
Washington Street District, New York city, 
covering housing, immigration, recreation, indus- 
trial conditions, child welfare, delinquency, 
health, and allied topics, printed in a book of 
nearly one hundred pages and containing dia- 
grams, tables, and valuable illustrative material. 
Prominent Episcopal churches, located in 
other cities, and of marked institutional char- 
acter are, for example: Trinity, Brooklyn, Trin- 
ity, Albany; Epiphany, Washington; Christ 
Church, Cincinnati; Christ Church Cathedral, 
Louisville. The latter church opened a special 
School for Defective Children, w^hich proved its 
worth and was taken over by the city Board of 
Education. There are clubs for men and for 
women, with bowling alleys, a Clothing Bureau, 
the usual societies of young men and of girls, 
gymnasium and athletics, a workshop, and other 
undertakings. Of the Cathedral House the 
Bishop of Kentucky says : ^^It is not an independ- 
ent agency. Because it is a splendid nursery, 
and is carrying on successfully its ministrations 
to enlarge Cathedral life and objects, we are de- 
sirous and are happy to be associated by encour- 
agement and support with this great work." 
"This Cathedral House," said the Dean, after 
its use had been well tested, "stands as a living 
force for things that are best in the whole life of 
all the people." A considerable proportion of 

X81 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

Episcopal churches have either good parish 
houses, or some institutional features. It will 
suffice to name as further examples, Emanuel, 
Boston, famous for the "Emanuel Movement"; 
Church of the Messiah and Saint PauFs, Balti- 
more ; Saint Luke's and Epiphany, Philadelphia ; 
Saint Luke's, Scranton ; Saint Paul's, Rochester ; 
Saint Paul's, Buffalo; Saint John's, Detroit; 
Church of Our Saviour, Akron. Two missions in 
San Francisco are "engaged in distinct institu- 
tional work." 

American Methodism has evidently been too 
busy with educational, evangelistic, and mission- 
ary programs to devote much attention or large 
resources to the development of highly specialized 
city work. This is true, even in centers of de- 
nominational activity. "We are institutionally 
strong here," remarked a Cincinnati layman, but 
the reference was to Book Concern and hospital 
activities, and not to the Church itself, which 
might conduct a much more valuable central 
work upon several of its splendid sites had en- 
dowments and institutionalism been provided 
for some years since, or could these advantages 
be now more adequately realized. In New York 
city the East Side Parish, the People's Home 
Church and Settlement, and Washington Square 
represent the principal Methodist undertakings 
of this nature, though Grace and Calvary 
churches have some institutional features. Aside 
from Morgan Memorial, Boston, described else- 

182 



TREND TOWARD INSTITUTIONALISM 

where, and which, like East Side Parish and 
other similar establishments, is really a mis- 
sion, Mathewson Street, Providence, is usually 
cited as the unique institutional church of 
the denomination. The building, which could 
profitably be much larger, is wedged in between 
business houses in the congested retail center. 
Five stories, covering the entire lot space of sixty 
by one hundred and twenty feet, are used for 
various forms of religious and social service. The 
basement houses the Central Girls' League, club 
rooms for boys and girls, banquet room and fire- 
proof vault. The building contains a high-grade 
hydraulic elevator. Reception rooms and vestry 
occupy the first floor. The church auditorium 
and a parlor which opens into it take up the 
second-floor space. Epworth League head- 
quarters and the church gallery and dome ac- 
count for the third story, and the top floor con- 
tains gymnasium, locker room, shower baths and 
janitors' apartments. As Providence has seven 
thousand unmothered girls living in single rooms, 
special attention is given to this class of down- 
town dwellers. Among advantages offered by 
"The Central Girls' League" are the special 
counsel of a "Little Sister" in charge; rooming 
and boarding house directory; employment 
bureau; reading, rest, and lunch rooms; bath- 
room ; classes in dressmaking, millinery, cooking, 
physical culture, nursing, vocal and instrumental 
music, drawing and printing and common Eng- 

183 



THE CHUECH IN THE CITY 

lish branches; lectures, entertainments, socials, 
excursions. For use of the bathroom, and for 
class instruction a small charge is made ; all else 
is free. The work of Mathewson Street Church 
is done without respect to sectarian lines. ^^ Jews, 
Catholics, and Protestants meet here on a 
common basis and work in perfect harmony. 
Through this committee (Religious Work) an 
earnest effort is made to have all the girls attend 
service at the places of w^orship to which they 
naturally belong.'' The auditorium is so cen- 
trally located, and is so well equipped with com- 
mittee rooms and with other facilities that it is 
said to provide the most important religious 
center in the State. The Protestant Episcopal 
Church once held a national congress in Mathew- 
son Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and a 
great number of meetings and conventions of 
various denominations and societies are accom- 
modated there, ^ince the completion and occu- 
pation of the present building the church mem- 
bership has increased to nearly three times the 
former strength. In Chicago, Grace Methodist 
Episcopal Church does some institutional work, 
but perhaps the main attempts of a not broadly 
planned or generously financed movement are at 
Halstead Street and at Lincoln Street. Broad 
Street, Columbus, has a good Parish House 
with some advanced social work. Patterson 
Memorial, Baltimore, is interested in physical 
culture, including indoor baseball, Boy Scouts, 

184 



TREND TOWAED INSTITUTIONALISM 

mothers' meetings, daily kindergarten (Satur- 
days excepted), and moving pictures, religious, 
educational and sociological. Other Methodist 
churches haying at least a "squint" toward the 
institutional, or which are making extensive 
plans therefor, are Trinity, Springfield, Massa- 
chusetts ; First, Saint Joseph ; First, Burlington ; 
and First, Duluth. Central, Detroit, is able to 
accomplish a much-needed work on the most eli- 
gible site in the town, and with facilities of a high 
order. The church retains, however, a marked 
family character. Epworth Memorial, Cleveland, 
while it has not a full equipment, has been for 
some years doing a remarkable work, and Saint 
Paul's, Cedar Rapids, is engaged in valuable reli- 
gious-social undertakings. Deaconess settle- 
ments are in various places conducting a mis- 
sion type of institutionalism. The Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, is represented in this 
work, with varying degrees of equipment and of 
success, in Atlanta, Wesley Memorial; Norfolk, 
Epworth ; in Kansas City, and in Los Angeles. 

Bethany Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, 
popularly known as '^John Wanamaker's 
Church," is one of three Collegiate Churches with 
a membership of some six thousand persons and 
with Sunday schools probably larger. Bethany, 
the home church, has a large and beautiful 
Brotherhood House, a Deaconess Home, a Free 
Dispensary, and an Industrial College vdth. fif- 
teen hundred students, who are taught trades 

185 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

and vocations. Two societies of men conduct 
phenomenally large Bible Classes. One of the 
regular offerings is "A Sunday Morning Free 
Breakfast and Refuge Home, where thousands 
of poor outcasts and friendless men are fed every 
Sunday morning, and housed during bitter nights 
throughout the winter.'' All of the above is 
noted despite the saying of the pastor, ^^I would 
hardly call Bethany an institutional church.'' 
Brick Church and Institute, Rochester, represent 
one of the principal modern enterprises of the 
Presbyterian denomination. This is the outline 
statement of social provisions : "We have a large 
building connected by a passage way with the 
church, sixty by one hundred and sixty feet, four 
stories and basement high. The two top floors 
contain eighty rooms, which we rent to un- 
married men. The other floors have the equip- 
ment usually found in modern Y. M. C. A. and 
Y. W. C. A. buildings. The work carried on is a 
very varied one, for the men, women, boys, and 
girls of the church and neighborhood. The 
revenue from the rooms and other membership 
fees enables us to employ a sufficient staff of 
expert workers. The annual budget averages 
(for the Brick Church Institute) about |23,500. 
It is a work which has grown up gradually since 
1898, and is the result of a careful study of the 
conditions to be met." Fourth Presbyterian, Chi- 
cago, has extensive equipment for social service, 
and First Presbyterian Church in the same city 

186 



TEEND TOWARD INSTITUTIONALISM 

is engaged in similar but not so well-established 
undertakings. Kingshighway, Saint Louis, a 
West-End Church, has a gymnasium, swimming 
pool, and social and club features. Valuable 
work of a strong conservative type is that of First 
Presbyterian, Pittsburgh. The entire budget of 
this church is above |100,000, more than one half 
going to benevolences. As a preface to its Insti- 
tutional Department the Year Book says: "The 
First Presbyterian Church has developed large 
institutional work, and in that w^ork it finds not 
only a positive mission, as through it men, 
women, and children are educated and bettered 
and developed, but it finds a retroactive influence 
in that it strengthens the life of the church itself. 
It has, however, this basis upon which all the 
institutional work is organized, namely, the re- 
generation of the individual. There is no work, 
however apparently secular, that does not have a 
religious aim and object." Among items of the 
First Presbyterian program are: Sunday after- 
noon Clubs for Men; Boys' Clubs, including 
Moneva for Bible Study, Mandolin and Guitar, 
Scouts, Triangle, Honor Bright and Camp; 
Women's Work Society, offering Social Depart- 
ment, Seeing Society, Sewing School, Mothers' 
Meeting, Girls' Industrial Gymnasium, Swim- 
ming and Vacation Clubs, Noonday Meetings, 
Bible Classes and Luncheons for Business Wo- 
men, Milk Station for Babies, District Nurse, 
City Missionary. The average attendance at the 

187 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

Sunday Afternoon Men's Club is over two hun- 
dred and twenty-five, and many men have been 
converted and helped to a new start in life 
through the work of this organization, which 
is financed by the generosity of one member 
of the congregation. For purposes of investi- 
gation other names of Presbyterian churches to 
be cited here are Second Church, Pittsburgh; 
Fourth, Albany; Fourth, Syracuse; Calvary, 
Buffalo; First and Third, Newark; and Third 
Church, South, Newark; First, Bridgeport; Re- 
formed Presbyterian, Cedar Rapids; First, 
Seattle. Several Detroit churches, notably 
First, Fort Street, and Jefferson Avenue, have 
excellent parish houses, and are doing a not- 
able work. The stated clerk of the General 
Assembly, Presbyterian Church in the United 
States of America, says that no list of Presbyte- 
rian institutional churches exists. The above- 
named instances have been observed by the 
w^riter, or have been gathered from correspond- 
ence. 

Doubtless the best-known of all churches of the 
type being considered is Grace Baptist Church, 
known also as The Temple, Philadelphia, "the 
first institutional church in America," and whose 
long-time pastor. Dr. Russell H. Conwell, is 
styled by his biographer "Founder of the Insti- 
tutional Church in America." The Baptist 
Temple w^as built in 1890, and it houses a present 
membership of three thousand. The Temple Uni- 

188 



TREND TOWARD INSTITUTIONALISM 

versity was organized by this church, but is now 
an independent, nonsectarian institution, in- 
structing three thousand five hundred pupils in 
law, arts, science, oratory, theology, medicine, 
dentistry, pharmacy, business, engineering, peda- 
gogy, and trades. It is a school for working 
people, and its many courses can be pursued by 
day or in the evening. Samaritan Hospital is 
another philanthropy founded by Grace Church, 
but now nonsectarian and independent. It min- 
isters to over ten thousand afflicted men, women, 
and children annually. A recent report shows 
that the greatest denominational representation 
among the patients treated is Roman Catholic. 
Methodists and Hebrews come next on the list, 
and Baptists hold sixth place. Among the organ- 
izations of the Temple Church itself are Ladies' 
Aid Society, doing a broadly missionary work; 
Young Women's Association, Business Men's 
League, Knights of the Temple, Young Men's 
Association, Christian Endeavor Societies, Bible 
Schools, Singing Clubs, Ushers' Associations, 
Needlework Guild, King's Sons and King's 
Daughters, Employment Bureau, Boys' Brother- 
hood, Registered Givers' Association, Athletic 
Clubs, and the usual church auxiliaries. The 
Sunday school rooms of the Temple provide for 
two thousand persons, and the church auditorium 
has three thousand one hundred and thirty-five 
numbered sittings. There are reading rooms, 
committee and classrooms, kitchen and banquet 

189 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

halls, and the athletic features of Temple College 
are within easy reach. The conviction on which 
Dr. Con well states that he began his life work, 
and which he still holds, is that it is the duty of 
the Church to preach, and teach and heal the 
sick. ^^In carrying out this threefold mission, 
Temple University, the Samaritan Hospital, and 
the Baptist Temple have sprung up into great 
independent organizations.'' Probably it was a 
mistake for a single church, and especially for 
one composed at the start almost w^holly of 
middle-class workpeople, to suppose that they 
could run a university and a hospital, as well as 
a church. If so, the substantial service rendered 
in the instance of Grace Church shows that it 
was a sanctified mistake. That the institutions 
of education and of physical healing grew too 
large for the maintenance of the mother which 
produced them is convincing evidence of the hu- 
man needs to which they have ministered. Hos- 
pitals are always difficult adjuncts of a single 
church, as the Baptist Tabernacle, Atlanta, has 
also discovered. This church, established on the 
Conwell plan, came later into serious trials. It 
possesses a large equipment, including a great 
auditorium and institutional features. Built 
around a unique personality, of somewhat er- 
ratic ideas and methods, the congregation has 
not been able to replace the pastor who organ- 
ized the work, but who found it too much for his 
strength to carry the load permanently. The 

190 



TKEND TOWARD INSTITUTIONALISM 

sphere of service open to a strictly institutional 
central church is somewhat limited in a residence 
town like Atlanta, and the future of both the 
Baptist Tabernacle and of the Southern Meth- 
odist Wesley Memorial of the same city is some- 
what uncertain. Tremont Temple, Boston, has a 
large, well-organized work among men, among 
young women and boys, with special rooms and 
some equipment, and with trained paid leader- 
ship. The latter is a necessity in order to pro- 
duce effective organizations on a broad scale. 
First Baptist Church, Syracuse, besides many 
institutional facilities, contains three floors for 
transient and permanent roomers, a commercial 
restaurant, and a moving-picture outfit. The 
church auditorium is on the first floor, and has 
not been sacrificed in any way to the social work 
of the commodious building. The exterior is of 
a strictly ecclesiastical type of architecture, 
ornate and beautiful. Woodward Avenue 
Church, Detroit, operates a modern plant in a 
house built for the purpose. Reporting initial or 
partial movements of a modern character are 
Fountain Street, Grand Rapids ; First, Columbia, 
South Carolina; First, Minneapolis; and First, 
Denver. 

Congregationalism is making some essays in 
the direction of institutional service. Plymouth 
Church, Brooklyn, has a plant known as the 
Beecher Memorial. It includes a gymnasium, 
bowling alleys, social and rest rooms, library, 

191 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

picture gallery, and other adjuncts. Flatbush 
Church, Brooklyn, offers gymnasium, baths, 
lockers, stage for dramatics and a number of 
such features as appeal to a residential section. 
Nearly all the larger Congregational churches 
of Worcester have a few institutional activities. 
Piedmont Church has Men's Club rooms. Boy 
Scout rooms, with gymnasium equipment, 
kitchen, and dining room facilities, and in the 
summer months a free daily kindergarten and 
sewing school. Ingram Memorial, Washington, 
is an uptown church, erected by a wealthy Wis- 
consan in honor of his son, and is carrying on 
social work in a specially erected building. Pil- 
grim Congregational Church, Cleveland, is said 
to be doing the most efficient institutional work 
of that city. The date list of Pilgrim Institute 
shows the following : Kindergarten, vocal lessons, 
violin lessons, recreation rooms. Young People's 
Society, gymnasium classes for various ages. Pil- 
grim Orchestra, Boy Scouts, Galahads, and Sing- 
ing Club. The Men's and Boys' Organization 
enrolls 150; the Women's Association numbers 
104 ; the Mother's Club, 245 ; Guild membership, 
41 ; Scouts, 75 ; King's Daughters, 45 ; Camp Fire 
Girls, 60. New First Congregational, and Wall- 
ington Avenue, Chicago, should have a place in 
this account for established and equipped work. 
Plymouth, Lansing; Plymouth, Oakland; and 
Plymouth, Seattle, are doing something, as is 
Union Church, Jacksonville, Florida. 

192 



TREND TOWARD INSTITUTIONALISM 

As a rule, institutional features are a sine qua 
non in the work of city missions and of mission 
churches. It is found that the unchurched can 
be drawn to hear the gospel by the use of social 
attractions, and that without them it is often 
impossible to make any serious inroad upon the 
solidarity of alien neighborhoods. Therefore the 
churches of the New York City Mission, for ex- 
ample, are equipped for a considerable amount of 
institutional work. DeWitt Memorial runs a 
gymnasium which is said to have been a great 
help in keeping the older boys in church and Sun- 
day school. It furnishes baths, sewing classes, 
athletic sports and many educational and social 
clubs. Olivet, on the East side downtown, uses 
a gymnasium, reading room, orchestra instruc- 
tion classes, mothers' meetings, and many clubs 
and outings, but "all of these organizations and 
movements are subordinated to the four great 
objects for which the church stands, namely, the 
church services, the church prayer meetings, the 
Sunday school, and the church visiting.'' Broome 
Street Tabernacle offers similar privileges. 
Charlton Street possesses a well-patronized 
library, with an officer in charge who acts as 
"father confessor" to the young men and boys 
who are its patrons. The Richmond Avenue, 
Buffalo, Church of Christ has a parish house, and 
quite a good work is being accomplished. In 
many smaller cities the statement is frankly 
made, and is even printed in the literature of 

193 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

churches, "Our institutional work is done by the 
Young Men's Christian Association." The 
Young Women's Christian Association occupies 
a similar relation in many places, and in towns 
where these organizations are not found, the 
smallest cities, churches sometimes undertake a 
general social and educational work as elaborate 
as that attempted by stronger societies in the 
great centers. 

Institutionalism is not always successful. 
Sometimes this may be due to the incompleteness 
of the effort. A writer says : "There is no insti- 
tutional church in the city whose work is on a 
high-class basis and apparently permanent. A 
number of churches are making a dab at it : sev- 
eral have gymnasiums, and others are doing some 
institutional work in part. A Congregational 
church formerly tried it, but failed, and now they 
have moved to a remote part of the city, and are 
building a gymnasium in connection with their 
new church, apparently with the idea of trying 
it again." From a Western city comes a state- 
ment naming a church "as the only church that 
is trying to do institutional work." The com- 
ment is added: "They are not succeeding very 
well in their efforts along this line." Yet "they 
have a splendid plant, and a reserve fund." Con- 
cerning an institutional church in the East, a re- 
ligious authority says: "I cannot vouch for the 
quality of the work. It has been said that it is 
not of the highest order." "I would not say that 

194 



TREND TOWARD INSTITUTIONALISM 

its work is strictly high class," says a Southern 
reporter concerning a local church, "but it is 
doing practically the only institutional work 
done by any church in the city." "While I do not 
presume to speak with full knowledge," similarly 
remarked an observer in a central State concern- 
ing a church in his city, "I think its work is lim- 
ited in influence." On the other hand, one insti- 
tutional church is evidently succeeding too well, 
for an account of its work says : "They may not 
tell you so in an inquiry sent to them, but their 
institutional work has hurt the other churches in 
the neighborhood," and from a perfectly inde- 
pendent witness in a neighboring city comes the 
statement: "The growth of this work has pre- 
sented a problem to other churches that would 
be interesting to investigate." It should be re- 
marked that the person first quoted says : "They 
are doing a splendid piece of work, however ; and 
if it w^ere not done at the expense of the other 
churches, it would be almost ideal." My own per- 
sonal knowledge of the church in question, and 
of its service to the community, leads me to feel 
that, despite all cavil, it is accomplishing results 
in a field from which other churches would secure 
more if they would put in more, and without 
which the moral life of the city would be seri- 
ously weakened. Possibly some injustices in the 
way of unfair competition have occurred of which 
I am uninformed. 

The rector of a well-known Eastern parish of 

195 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

the Episcopal Church utters this warning: "My 
impression is that real institutional work, as it 
is known to-day, should not be undertaken unless 
the church is properly situated, and is possessed 
of abundance of means to carry it on properly. 
There is danger of locking up a large amount of 
capital in rooms, facilities, etc., that will really 
do no good, after all." He names a rector of expe- 
rience in this matter who is at the head of an 
important parish in the Northwest, and who is 
inclined to say, "Go slow." On the other hand, 
the felt need in many cities is expressed in the 
message from an important industrial center of 
New England: "Neither have we any institu- 
tional churches here, though there is a great field 
for them." The sphere of opportunity for insti- 
tutional work in most cities is undoubted, but 
the financial and other problems are often seri- 
ous. 

The strength of the more social and service- 
able forms of church activity is their humane- 
ness and their democracy: their peril and occa- 
sional complete failure result from the secularity, 
if not vulgarity, which may accompany them and 
defeat their higher purpose. It is true that spir- 
ituality has been newly defined, and that it is 
found to be not inconsistent with practical help- 
fulness. Indeed, it is becoming ever clearer that 
the true spirit is love, and love serves. But there 
are amusements and practices which sometimes 
creep into the work of Christian Associations and 

196 



TREND TOWARD INSTITUTIONALISM 

of churches which are too commonj tawdry, or 
even sensual, to be of any real value. Moreover, 
it is easily possible to represent incidental and 
socially interesting undertakings as if they were 
of far greater importance than is really the case, 
and as constituting the sum of religious prac- 
tice and life. The impact of the world and the 
whir of its machinery tend to deafen and to 
deaden the inner consciousness of the Church, 
and the rush of external affairs leaves little time 
or might for the cultivation of the proper char- 
acters and qualities of Christian manhood and 
womanhood. It ^i.11 profit little to add to these 
nonspiritual influences by introducing them into 
the very citadel of Christianity. The matter re- 
quires both principle and careful guidance. The 
socialized church must take extra pains to pre- 
serve its Christian nature, and this fact is recog- 
nized in the statements of its advocates when, 
partly unawares, they confess their fears, and 
when they express their spiritual convictions and 
purposes in pleas for support and cooperation. 
That the Church of God must in its future 
labors take humanity into account was well 
stated by Dr. F. B. Meyer, when, in Bradford, 
England, in 1902, in an address on ^'Twentieth 
Century Evangelism," he pleaded for ^"the insti- 
tutional church, the wide outlook, more elastic 
methods, greater eagerness to win outsiders, more 
varied service on the part of Christian people, 
that the minister of any place of worship should 

197 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

become the recognized friend of the entire dis- 
trict in which his chapel is placed.^' This is in 
harmony with the divine commission to go into 
all regions, and with the Christian program of 
becoming the light of the world and the salt of 
the earth. It is in touch with his practice who 
was "made all things to all men'' that he might 
save some. It is the gospel of James, that faith 
be shown by works. Only to the end that faith 
may be strengthened, that saving purpose and 
effort may become more effective, that salt may 
furnish savor and the light its divine radiance, 
that the Church may be brought into loving 
powerful relation to human conditions and needs, 
should any form or method of Christian work 
be preserved and prosecuted. 

The People's Church finds strength in numbers 
and is freed from "respect of persons." This 
result is almost as certain as it is desirable, once 
a congregation possesses sufficient numbers or 
large enough endowments to loose it from the 
necessity for great individual benefactions to 
keep up current expenses. Then, too, the whole 
atmosphere and habit of a social rather than 
of a society church discourages snobbishness, 
and brings the wealthier and more talented mem- 
bers into actual and just fellowship with others. 
It is due many such persons to note the fact that 
when circumstances permit they are very unas- 
suming, friendly, and useful. Democracy in 
Christian relations confers benefits in both direc- 

198 



TREND TOWARD INSTITUTIONALISM 

tions, and leavens the whole lump. If institu- 
tionalism makes for brotherhood, and for the 
recognition of character and ability rather than 
of accidental possessions and attainments, if it 
resists the sway of caste, and promotes mutual 
respect and cooperation in the work of religious 
progress and of consequent social righteousness, 
the Church can well afford to promote with con- 
viction and with vigor its undertakings. 

As a matter of fact, a stronger tendency than 
ever before is moving the churches of America in 
the direction of community service and of varied 
social work both within and without their own 
walls. The institutional church, as such, at least 
professionally and with complete equipment, 
organization and program, is not being intro- 
duced ra]3idly. The cost is too great, and the 
risks are many. Dr. Con well thinks that the 
former foundations of this kind are not at the 
present time doing very successful work. He 
says that most of them have had this history, 
that independent organizations for the carrying 
on of all special phases of their work have re- 
sulted. Nevertheless, the movement has not 
ceased, and ambitious plans are known to exist 
in the minds of many executives of the Church. 
Time will add to the number of these establish- 
ments, especially in downtown localities, and it 
is to be hoped also in industrial and mission 
neighborhoods. The present notable fact is that 
city churches generally are studying their fields 

199 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

with a new insight and with broad and philan- 
thropic conceptions of duty, and as never before 
they are engaging upon neglected works of tem- 
porary service or of permanent usefulness 
Many present-day churches which have no 
thought that they are institutional are really 
doing a more diversified social work than was 
once accomplished by specifically institutional 
churches. Moreover, the Church of Christ as a 
whole is becoming a factor of ever-greater import- 
ance in the work of inspiring, training, and guid- 
ing community and social leaders and workers. 
The important denominations have established 
Departments of Social Service which are seek- 
ing to produce a socialized Church, and to per- 
meate the masses with Christian teaching and 
spirit. Reform Bureaus of various kinds, and 
the great Missionary Societies and Boards of 
Education are taking their share in this move- 
ment, which is one not merely of popularizing 
Christianity but of Christianizing the institu- 
tions, customs, and units of society. As the 
Church proves her love for man, it becomes pos- 
sible to convince men of the love of God. Chris- 
tian work in the Church is representative and 
instructive. It furnishes also motive and power. 
The consciences of stewards are quickened; the 
talents and the genius of servants are aroused 
and directed to good ends; cooperation as a law 
of living and of relationships is impressed upon 
the mind as practicable and right, and fraternity 

200 



TREND TOWARD INSTITUTIONALISM 

as the goal of Christian striving and as the means 
of human happiness is brought sensibly nearer. 
If the trend toward institutionalism, which is 
increasingly evident, means that the Church is 
to have a greater enthusiasm for humanity and 
one which is born of a deeper love for God ; if it 
means that organized Christianity is to seek 
every avenue into the hearts of men, reaching 
them through the channels of all the senses as 
well as by the cravings and aspirations of the 
mind, that they may be turned to virtue and to 
Christ; if it means that the Church is to cham- 
pion social justice and to press the claims of the 
weak, the maimed, and the oppressed, then this 
modern idea and development is in harmony with 
the revealed divine will, and moves toward the 
fulfillment of the dreams and proclamations of 
prophets and seers. 



201 



CHAPTER X 

ADVERTISING 

A CERTAIN sense of humiliation attends the 
introduction of this much-discussed topic. One 
instinctively feels that religion ought not to be 
required to press its claims upon an indifferent 
public, that the Church, being the representative 
of the Lord of heaven and of earth, should stand 
upon its dignity, and wait for people to come to 
its services as they become inclined to recognize 
the claims of divine worship, and their own deep- 
est needs. But what if this cheapening of the 
wares of the gospel is part of the accepted hum- 
bling of himself which is inseparable from the 
whole relationship of the Son of God with the 
sons of men? Jesus did not content himself in 
heaven, but came to earth, proclaimed himself 
and his teachings, and taught his disciples to go 
into all the world and spread abroad the glad 
tidings of salvation through faith in him. It is 
not too much to say also that during the centuries 
it has been the aggressive disciples and churches 
that have seemed to enjoy the blessing of God 
and the confidence of men. It is not possible, 
therefore, that serious criticism should be made 

202 



ADVERTISING 

upon advertising of itself : the question is con- 
cerning methods and manners. 

Reference should be made, however, to some 
churches which make few formal newspaper or 
circular announcements of their wares. One of 
these churches, the Roman, is certainly success- 
ful in obtaining poi3ular attendance at its serv- 
ices, and it might be hastily assumed that this 
organization draws by its dignity and reserve. 
The logical conclusion might be that all Chris- 
tian bodies wotild gain adherents, not as rapidly 
perhai3S, but more permanently, and in the end 
more ntimerously and dependably, by conserva- 
tism with regard to public proclamations of their 
goods. Just at this point it may be as well to 
make the statement, which T\i.ll be amplified 
later, that advertising does not always adver- 
tise in the direction intended ; it may rei3el more 
than it draws, or at least it may offend and turn 
away elements gTeatly to be desired. It must 
also be admitted that a proportion of churches, 
and especially of organizations which aim to at- 
tract selected types of persons, may measurably 
and, according to their ideals, satisfactorily suc- 
ceed by a policy which calls for stibtler methods 
of publicity than are used in cases where the 
object is more catholic. Romanism advertises 
itself primarily to childhood, ^usely reflecting 
that as the tT^i.g is bent the tree ^ull be inclined. 
So great insistence has been placed by Protestant- 
ism -upon the Sunday school as the children's 

203 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

church, and so little effort, comparatively, has 
been made to render church services attractive 
and beneficial to the child mind, that many 
thoughtful leaders are questioning how to cor- 
rect customs which have almost emptied Protes- 
tant church services of their children. Sunday 
school experts recognize the peril of this state of 
affairs, and they are instituting methods adapted 
to effect closer union of church and Bible school. 
The problem is not yet solved, and the statement 
is sometimes made that of the two it is the duty 
of the parents to take more pains to secure the 
church attendance of their children than to keep 
them in Sunday school. This matter must be 
more seriously considered by parents, by Sunday 
school officers, and by church officials. Upon 
the pulpit undeniably rests a further great re- 
sponsibility, namely, to so adapt the length, 
variety, and character of its exercises as to make 
them both interesting and valuable to child life. 
It may be asked whether Romanism does not 
depend upon spectacular and sensuous elements 
in architecture, in the decoration of its temples 
and in dress and ritual of its priests and choirs, 
and upon pictures and processionals to take the 
place in some part of other forms of advertising. 
Appeals to eye and ear are more alluring to many 
people than are sound doctrine, valid argument, 
or solemn warning and exhortation. A very 
intelligent Neapolitan with whom I conversed on 
ecclesiastical matters, exclaimed: "Your Protes- 

204 



ADVERTISING 

tant churches and services are too plain, too bare. 
In the Catholic churches are so many things 
which mean something. I look at them with 
interest. In the Protestant churches one goes 
to sleep." It is easy to grasp such a point of view, 
when it is so graphically and ardently presented 
as it was by this sound and color-loving Italian, 
who illustrated his thought by specific instances, 
and emphasized them with Latin gestures. The 
thought suggested itself, Have not the reformed 
churches, in their reaction from Rome, departed 
unnecessarily from the employment of symbol- 
ism, beauty, harmony of form, movements, melo- 
dies, and ornaments as aids to the spirit of 
reverence and of devotion? 

Without ignoring the dangers of barbaric emo- 
tionalism and of sensuous pseudo-culture as fac- 
tors of religious experience, it may be supposed 
that the argument of history is fairly good cause 
to believe that the love of the beautiful is as 
instinctive and as worshipful as is the love of the 
true and the good. The use of music, art, and 
ritual in divine service should always, of course, 
be subordinated to the sublime purpose of intelli- 
gent communion with God, and of ethical teach- 
ing, and strict adaptation should be made to the 
condition and requirements of the people. Gos- 
pel missions are usually distressingly plain 
places, forbidding, in fact to almost all except 
the very earnest or the despairing. To make 
them centers for the exhibition of high art in 

205 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

decoration and in music would be as unfortunate 
an extreme in the contrary direction, probably 
reducing the attendance very largely to the dully 
wondering and to the pretending. The attrac- 
tions of these halls may very properly, in the best 
sense of the term, be vulgar. They should, of 
course, have instructive and superior elements, 
that their own proper influences may be elevat- 
ing, but they must be apperceptive in their ap- 
peal. The loved known and understood is the 
door to unknown good. Nevertheless, it seems a 
vital error to suppose that the poor and the 
depraved are without appreciation of anything 
save of ugliness. Many of them are, on the con- 
trary, victims of inordinate desire for the sensu- 
ous and the beautiful, which they strive to pos- 
sess at any cost. Like cures like. May not a 
proper use of the very elements whose corrupt 
employment leads astray tend to aid the forces 
which work for human redemption? 

Variety is almost, if not quite, as important an 
adjunct of effective religious services as are their 
artistic features. Vaudeville artists, stump 
demagogues, street hawkers, and all other classes 
who make it their business to attract public at- 
tention and interest and to hold it for certain 
ends, are well aware of the good effect of frequent 
changes of program. Those who wish to serve 
the public may wisely become as proficient in the 
knowledge and control of human nature as are 
many of the persons who seek to exploit the 

206 



ADVERTISING 

public. Monotony kills life, in the house of God 
as well as in the world outside. There is a golden 
mean which, it seems proper to again point out, 
is not to be determined by the criterion of the 
most cultivated taste. Many preachers, and not 
a few elect souls in the churches, have been edu- 
cated out of sufficient correspondence with the 
state of mind and with the unconscious or unex- 
pressed natural desires of the people for whose 
good they are working. "Blame your velvet 
mouth for that. Too fine for market language," 
was quaint old Daniel Burgess's reply to the 
preacher who complained of his lack of success 
in reaching the masses. Not only velvet mouths, 
but velvet manners in the conduct and methods 
of religious services and work have not infre- 
quently driven away, rather than drawn to the 
house of God, the common men and women upon 
whom the Master had compassion because they 
were scattered abroad unshepherded. Many of 
the commonest, most human and natural people 
are, however, of those who dwell in kings' houses, 
and most of the inhabitants of the city or town 
are children older grown. The Church is not set 
to amuse the people, and this is certainly not the 
function needed by an age pleasure-crazed, but is 
it necessary to make acts of Christian worship 
so stiff, stilted, or overrefined that they are unat- 
tractive or repellent to healthful, vigorous, red- 
blooded members of the community? The scat- 
tered flocks of Jesus's love can be gathered only 

207 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

by shepherds who are sons of men as well as 
men of God. The church which is to become the 
fold of Christ must be a home for the people as 
well as the house of the Most High. 

Not to pass by the remarkable church attend- 
ance of Roman Catholics without just discrimina- 
tion, it ought to be asked whether this undeniable 
good is not in part at least obtained by somewhat 
too liberal concessions and compromises. If 
church-going is permitted to atone for desecra- 
tion, at other hours, of the day of God, or if it is 
secured at the expense of moral obligations; if 
it is purchased, as is sometimes claimed, by indul- 
gences of various kinds, or inspired by fear or by 
appeal to superstition, then it is obtained at too 
great a cost. More than likely the secret of 
Roman fidelity to worship is to be found in the 
home and parochial school training already re- 
ferred to, and in the constant replenishment of 
the memberships of Roman Catholic churches in 
America by immigration from abroad, furnish- 
ing a never-ending class of persons whose restric- 
tions of language and of social opportunities 
make them especially subservient to the wishes, 
and thoroughly obedient to the commands, of the 
church. It is an unfortunate truth, to be de- 
plored by all true Christians, that so large a pro- 
portion of Americanized and educated Romanists 
take little interest in going to their own or to any 
other place of worship. It may in fact, in spite 
of the large audiences in their churches, be ques- 

208 



ADVERTISING 

tioned whether the proportion of church attend- 
ance on the part of Roman Catholics is increasing 
or falling. 

The public announcements of Anglican 
churches are noteworthy for conservatism, which 
may or may not enter vitally into the matter of 
the measure of success attained. The Protestant 
Episcopal Church is primarily a city institution, 
and it is growing most rapidly in certain areas of 
great cities, where its methods have become more 
aggressive than formerly. Both of the churches, 
which seem to advertise relatively little in public 
journals, have apparently acquired exceptional 
access to the reading columns of dailies. The 
Roman Catholic Church maintains press bureaus, 
and educates young men for journalism, and 
without the necessity of paid formal announce- 
ments evidently controls in its own interests even 
editorial utterances of many prominent papers. 
It is undoubtedly more effective to be able to 
command a respect which may go even to the 
extent of the coloring or suppression of undesir- 
able items, and which leads to frequent favorable 
expositions of church views, and to most flatter- 
ing compliments, than it is to publish an inch or 
two of topics and names in advertising columns. 
Closer acquaintance on the part of Christian 
leaders with makers of news, and also, if neces- 
sary, with those financially responsible for the 
great papers, would seem to be very desirable, 
provided the interest thus sought and attained is 

209 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

acquired and used in a perfectly fair and sen- 
sible manner. 

In general, church advertising, of all classes of 
promotion, should be ethical. It should proclaim 
the Church and Christ, and not merely human 
personalities and opinions. Not a few notices of 
religious meetings are obnoxious because of the 
pride and self-esteem displayed. The difference 
between self-advertising and church advertising 
may be merely in the turn of a phrase, but it is 
hardly possible to be too particular to lift up 
Christ, not men, in invitations and in proclama- 
tions of religious enterprises. The teaching of 
the Church should be. Come and worship, rather 
than. Come and be instructed and entertained ; it 
should be, Come and seek the truth of God, not, 
Come and sit at the feet of learning and of elo- 
quence. Dependence upon human reputations, 
upon the discussion of specially interesting 
themes, however unobjectionable in themselves, 
as the law of congregation-building ultimately 
prove a dismal failure. Truth is eternal, and 
can never permanently lose its hold upon human 
attention, but novelty in its presentation creates 
its own demand, which requires constant renew- 
ing, or appetite fails. Many a striking topic- 
maker helps, more than he realizes, to increase 
the class of religious gadabouts, whose church 
attendance is too irregular in one place to be a 
very valuable asset anywhere. It is the faithful, 
always present or accounted for church member 

210 



ADVERTISING 

who is worth while, and advertising which does 
not tend to the securing of this kind of church- 
goers is rather unproductive, whatever be its 
immediate effect. Similarly, the attraction of 
audiences for a man, rather than congregations 
for divine service, if successful, builds a human 
and ephemeral institution, whose prosperity is 
more largely of man than of God. It is true that 
"the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord,'' but 
it is the light, not the candle, which should be 
made the object of the world's thought. Then if 
one candle is removed another may be substi- 
tuted without loss of confidence or defections 
from the number of the children of light. A real 
test of a man's ministry is the success of his 
contemporaries and of his successors : if he draws 
without diminishing the general average of 
church attendance elsewhere, he tones up the 
whole spirit of churchgoing ; and if his followers 
in the same field, being likewise worthy men, 
receive the support of his congregation, and can 
labor effectively, it is the more probable that his 
ministry has been of Christ and not of himself. 

It is coming to be almost universally under- 
stood that any announcement of wares which de- 
preciates the goods of competitors is bad advertis- 
ing and retroactive. Not often in these days are 
church people guilty of publicly attacking or 
criticizing the work of other religious institutions 
and services than their own. At least this kind of 
self-exploitation is mainly confined to religious 

211 



THE CHUECH IN THE CITY 

journalism, which in specific instances might be 
improved in spirit. 

A more common advertising error on the part 
of churches as well as of business men, is exagger- 
ation, and, sad to say, sometimes untruthfulness. 
"Thou shalt not lie" has been adopted as a motto 
of modern organizations of "ad. men." Churches 
have had that rule before them from the begin- 
ning, yet mass meetings which have little mass, 
eloquent speakers who are very ordinary, fine 
music which is scarcely respectable, are not un- 
known offerings of church pages in the news- 
papers, and of handbills and cards of invitation 
sent out upon the street. This evil is a result of 
the false emphasis upon human rather than upon 
divine elements in Christian worship to which 
reference has previously been made. Whatever 
may be thought of the use of popular topics, sen- 
sational or otherwise, it seems self-evident that 
if announced they should represent the real 
theme which is to be discussed by the preacher. 
To draw strangers to one's church by misleading 
and tricky notices is not only poor morals but 
even poor policy, sure to react in reduced con- 
fidence and attendance. To keep up a semblance 
of success at this kind of business the boaster 
must boast ever more boastfully, the trickster 
must become trickier, the deceiver more decep- 
tive. 

Judgment of church notices and of advertising 
plans should be as general and as charitable as 

212 



ADVEKTISING 

possible. The full bearings of a topic announced 
or of a drawing scheme may have escaped the 
perception of those responsible, or may be mis- 
understood by the observer. Frequently a critic 
seizes upon a thoughtless act or error and repre- 
sents it as a common practice, either of the par- 
ticular church or of the religious community as 
a whole. It should be perfectly evident that 
topics cannot always convey fully the moral 
issues associated with them, and which it is the 
preacher's intention to discuss. On the other 
hand, no one will deny that some subjects are 
purely secular and carnal, whatever the services 
to which they invite may prove to be, while some 
are freakish, or even puerile and ridiculous, and 
they advertise in a way which can hardly be con- 
sidered satisfactory to the church. 

Methods of displaying the wares of Christianity 
must vary with situations. In difficult business 
and boardinghouse parishes, and in foreign back- 
street and red-light neighborhoods of the largest 
cities, plans of attracting attention may be 
justified which would be altogether out of place 
elsewhere. The gospel hook must be baited with 
food which is palatable to the sort of fish which 
are sought, but some bait draws the curiosity of 
whole schools of fish without catching any, even 
catfish, which, of course, as well as trout, ought 
to be desired by Christian fishermen. If occa- 
sionally a good fish is hooked when bad bait is 
used, it is doubtless the hunger of the caught, 

213 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

not the wisdom of the catcher, to which the result 
is to be credited, or it is due to the labor and 
influence of other fishermen, or to previous or 
associated attractions rather than to the one most 
conspicuous. In general, it is to be believed that 
no good can come thereof, and that no sufficient 
excuse exists for the use anywhere in Christian 
work of advertising which is indecently sugges- 
tive, inherently coarse, irreverent, or profane. 
An invincible conviction is arising in many minds 
that, taking the years together, the more discrim- 
inative methods of presenting the claims of Chris- 
tianity are those which are most effective. Even 
in the slums a larger ultimate total of persons 
can be induced to hear about heaven than about 
hell, of which many see and hear quite enough 
in spite of themselves. More people will be 
attracted by stories of Jerry McAuley and of 
Mary Magdalene than by sermons on the latest 
pugilist and the most widely notorious adulter- 
ess. Love will prove a more lasting drawing card 
than denunciation of lust, of murder, or even of 
social injustice, although there is a need and 
place for the treatment of all these subjects, and 
occasions arise when some of them may be prop- 
erly announced. In sections of the cities where 
conditions are better, and the people are of a 
higher intellectual and moral average, and espe- 
cially in the outstanding central churches, an 
increasing tendency to appeal to higher motives 
of churchgoing is noticeable. Occasionally a 

214 



ADVERTISING 

flower, a picture card or flag is promised to at- 
tendants, which is a far better offering than a 
smoker, or permission to sit in the house of God 
in one's shirt-sleeves. The stereopticon is fre- 
quently used, especially Sunday nights, but it 
has decided limitations, and as some abuses are 
connected with pulpit picture-shows he is fortu- 
nate who can do without them as a device for 
bringing people to Sabbath services. Hotel invi- 
tations, in card or, better, in letter form, are 
often found to be a good way to secure the atten- 
tion of strangers, and also to make useful and 
more interested and loyal the young men of the 
church who live downtown. The preacher who 
knows how wisely and timely to express himself 
and his church members with reference to mat- 
ters of public concern having ethical bearings 
and relations thereby places his church before 
the public in a way which cannot help having an 
advertising value which is easily appreciable. 
The attempt to do this which fails has, however, 
a very disastrous effect, and, indeed, the effort 
should never be made merely for the sake of pub- 
licity. 

The best forms of religious advertising are an 
earnest, fearless Christian pulpit and ministry, 
a social, active, and consistent church member- 
ship, and a good church paper, which may be 
made an exceedingly practical adjunct to an 
important parish. This reference is not, of 
course, to the denominational weekly, which even 

215 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

when it is published in the same community, 
though exceedingly valuable from another stand- 
point, has small effect upon the extension work 
of a local parish. It is the monthly paper or 
magazine, published by the society for the double 
purpose of unifying its members in their thoughts 
and labors, and of exploiting its merits as a guide 
and helper, which may be used most effectively 
both within and without the ranks of its adher- 
ents. The Sunday bulletin is often used in this 
way, but its space is restricted, and the most 
important matters cannot usually be adequately 
treated in its columns. As a herald of Sunday 
services, and as a reminder of immediate dates 
the bulletin, sent through the mails or delivered 
by hand from house to house, or, better still, by 
members to their neighbors, has many possi- 
bilities. But widely scattered congregations and 
strong aggressive church organizations need a 
larger and more comprehensive presentation of 
their work. Many of the foremost city pastors, 
including most of those who give their time and 
effort primarily to their parishes, wish a suitable 
paper at almost any cost. Some of these men 
have said that of the two a monthly journal is to 
be preferred before an added member of the pas- 
toral force. The preparation of a creditable and 
able organ of this kind requires skilled labor on 
the part of some well-trained writer or editor. 
Usually, if he wishes it to express to his people 
and community the message of his ministry, and 

216 



ADVERTISING 

the broader aims as well as the details of church 
work, the pastor finds it necessary to do this work 
quite largely himself. Assistants, paid or un- 
paid, may run the local columns and edit the 
news of the various auxiliary organizations of 
the parish, but the policy of the paper must be 
determined, and its chief articles prepared, either 
by the minister in person or under his careful 
supervision. Even to a busy man the result is 
worth the pains. The preacher who makes his 
church his first and absorbing field of labor, and 
who seeks for no success not based upon the 
achievements of his own parish, will count extra 
effort a delight which enables him to deepen and 
to extend his teaching power, and by which he 
may better command, coordinate and direct to 
good ends the forces of his congregation. It is 
well when a church paper may be independent of 
secular advertising, in which is no evil per se^ 
even in a religious journal. Congregations of 
large resources cannot afford to be niggardly 
with reference to expenses of printing, and it 
avoids all questions of taste and of discrimina- 
tion, and it reserves all space for church uses, to 
publish the organ of the parish without selling 
any part of its columns. 

Every issue of a local church paper, save for 
the rarest exceptions, should contain a compre- 
hensive picture of the activities of the people 
whom it represents, for this increases its value 
as an advertiser. This is the reason why so many 

217 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

of these publications carry as standing matter 
long lists of adjunct societies and of their 
officers. If these were omitted, the reading 
columns in a given issue might present a very 
defective and unbalanced account of the church 
organization and undertakings. If the copy of 
the paper which happened to fall under the eye 
contained little except material relating to social 
life, the spiritually-minded reader might receive 
a false impression as to the chief activities and 
emphasis of the church. If the number made no 
reference to social engagements, young people 
might think that this particular church would 
prove uninteresting to them. Similar misleading 
impressions would be apt to result from issues 
almost wholly devoted to women's work, to the 
Sunday school, to foreign missions, or to pastoral 
exhortations. The ideal should be a well-rounded 
exhibit of Christian life and labor in each copy 
of the paper, with certainly from time to time 
special emphasis upon departments having im- 
minent undertakings or interests. These varied 
contents, taken together with such a complete 
outline of the whole work of the parish as the 
formal list already referred to affords, give to all 
readers the idea of a full-orbed society. If any 
lack exists, the fact is apparent, but the broader 
the appeal the more people are likely to become 
interested. The teaching function of the paper 
is utilized by the capable pastor to extend the 
length of his pulpit into the homes of his people, 

218 



ADVERTISING 

and even to the minds of those who may read 
what they do not come to church to hear. 

Given an interesting, virile preacher of a living 
quickening system of faith and of knowledge, 
with Jesus Christ ever in the foreground, a 
preacher who is worth hearing again and again, 
and, better still, who is worth helping in the 
tasks of his consecrated life, and the best addi- 
tional attraction to bring people churchward and 
Christward is a membership who try to aid the 
man of God in his work, and in his Lord's work ; 
who seek by kindliness, sociability, hospitality, 
generosity. Christian purpose, noble character, 
consistent conduct and devoted labors, to bring 
their children, friends, neighbors, and fellow 
citizens into the house of the Lord, and to keep 
them there. An electric sign, inviting passers-by 
to attend its services, may perchance be upon the 
exterior of the temple which such a church mem- 
bership inhabits, but the light within the sanc- 
tuary and sent by it throughout the homes and 
institutions of the city, consisting not merely of 
truth but of Christian grace, is far brighter and 
more attractive than are all other forms of church 
publicity. Happy is the pastor whose efforts to 
extend the kingdom of Christ are thus not merely 
supplemented but transformed into the higher 
tasks of religious leadership. 



219 



CHAPTER XI 

DIVISION AND CONSOLIDATION 

It is a strange law of organizations that they 
commonly divide more easily and more harmo- 
niously than they unite, and that progress is 
rarely attained by consolidation. Close study of 
various societies reveals distinctive character per- 
haps as strongly marked as is the case with indi- 
viduals. Where the union of these bodies is at- 
tempted it is found, however, that the personal 
ties which frequently exist between units of the 
race, and which bring them companionably and 
permanently together, are lacking, and that con- 
flicting attitudes of mind and habits of life re- 
main to cause discomfort, if not serious trouble. 
The homogeneous nation is easier to govern than 
is one composed of different peoples, even though 
they have been associated together, not by con- 
quest, but by reason of mutual necessities. Vol- 
untary associations are even less readily welded 
into pleasurable and lasting fellowships than are 
communities which are bound by law and gov- 
erned by force. The Church believes in freedom 
of will, and its external authority is the consent 
of the governed. Church memberships must be 

220 



DIVISION AND CONSOLIDATION 

reasonably satisfied with their relations and with 
the conduct of religious affairs, or they are 
broken and scattered. 

Too many small, weak churches indicate an 
unwise denominational policy. It required many 
years of struggle, attended by several calamities, 
to undo the evil which a hasty planter of new 
church organizations brought upon a thriving 
city where a normal growth would have been ex- 
ceedingly satisfactory. This predatory official 
robbed the greater churches of their strength, 
and in his web of weak nuclei he antedated the 
extensions of a quarter century. Time saved 
part of the thin red line from extinction, and 
later conservatism redeemed the situation, but 
many unnecessary labors and sacrifices were re- 
quired, and not a few grievous losses and disap- 
pointments preceded the day of better wisdom. 

Good counsel is required for determining the 
time of setting up a new church household, and 
sound business judgment is requisite to its most 
valuable location and equipment. Nevertheless, 
it is often a difficult matter for denominational 
committees or for general officers to control these 
affairs. Large liberty must be permitted those 
w^ho are inspired to undertake enterprises in 
which their hearts are enlisted and for which 
they are willing to toil and to sacrifice. Even 
if they require outside aid, it is rarely best to 
restrict the movements of such persons except as 
they may be persuaded to a course which is more 

221 



THE CHURCH IK THE CITY 

suitable to their necessities. Must it not be sup- 
posed that some part of that right to religious 
liberty for which other generations strove still 
inheres in the Christian community, and that its 
exercise must be permitted, even with reference 
to practical matters concerning which there is 
room for difference of opinion? Quite as likely 
is it that narrow and personal motives on the 
part of older organizations and of interested 
leaders will tend to discourage important sub- 
divisions and new foundations of the Church as 
that they will be improperly begun and unjustly 
concluded. 

The time for the Church to enter communities 
and neighborhoods is when these sections are 
new, when land is cheap, and when adequate 
sites may be obtained at reasonable cost; when 
social and business life are plastic, and when the 
Church may be able to mold that life into con- 
formity to its ideals. Fortunate is that body of 
Christians which has among its general officers 
a good land-looker and prospector, or which pos- 
sesses a local Board of Strategy sustained with 
the needed funds and guided by business judg- 
ment sufficient to quickly note and to firmly 
grasp opportunities of growth which present 
themselves. Advancement is certain wherever 
these agencies of progress exist, and are moved 
by a zealous spirit. 

Early large purchases of real estate tend, as 
has been shown, to assure permanence and im- 

222 



DIVISION AND CONSOLIDATIOK 

portance to the work of the society which has 
thus equipped and enriched itself. If the great 
city churches do not wish to divide their mem- 
bership too quickly, should they not, through 
general organizations, or separately, fix upon, 
acquire, and hold for the future such tracts of 
land as seem sure to be needed in Christian work, 
and sufficiently broad for the largest probable 
developments? As it has already been intimated, 
one great branch of Christendom seems to need 
no counsel of this kind. By reason of its strongly 
centralized organization and government, and 
by use of a highly respectable worldly wisdom, 
the Koman Church anticipates the needs of its 
people and plants its advancing hosts in the most 
economical and generous estates. Why the vari- 
ous Protestant church extension boards should 
so generally pursue a hand-to-mouth policy, min- 
istering largely to belated and expensive neces- 
sities, it is difficult to say. 

It must be reiterated that growth is by division, 
and not by consolidation. New lives are be- 
gotten by older lives, but unions in advanced age 
seldom have issue, and they are not prolific. Late 
marriages are not always even harmonious, and 
two churches put together rarely coalesce hap- 
pily, at least for many years. The writer is 
familiar with a prominent body of unusually 
Christian people whose division into two parties 
distinct in type, in thought, in memories, and in 
affiliations was noticeable after a half century of 

223 



THE CHUECH IN THE CITY 

union. But more often the two societies really 
do not come together at all, even outwardly, at 
least for any long period of time. One or the 
other of them is sacrificed ; its members do not go 
over to the new site; they scatter and are dissi- 
pated. Some find a home, it is true, in other 
congenial churches, but many become careless in 
religious habits, and finally they drift away 
entirely. 

It would be as idle as foolish to contend that 
all city churches may be, or should be, preserved. 
The heaviest endowments could not save them to 
a life of usefulness, for their field is gone or their 
spirit is lost. God has removed the candlestick : 
the Shekinah has departed. This has not been 
the case, however, with most of the city churches 
which have been going down, one after the other, 
during the past half century. Some of them have 
been wisely relocated, more have deserted men 
for money, and not a few have been consolidated 
to death. As certain religious leaders are 
affected by the microbe of division, others have 
succumbed to the microbe of consolidation. They 
have a passion for big, strong church organiza- 
tions, but they cannot work and wait to secure 
the results desired by natural ingestion and ac- 
cretion; they seek to attain their ends by car- 
pentry. Two or even three bodies of people, often 
of the most dissimilar ways and feelings, are per- 
suaded or compelled to join properties together, 
only to discover in too many instances that there 

224 



DIVISION AXD COXSOLIDATION 

is no union of hearts. Where struggling churches 
of like and congenial people are brought together 
in a mutually convenient center, combining their 
resources for more adequate service to the com- 
munity, the fusion may result in homogeneity of 
spirit and of purpose, but; inequalities before 
union create dissatisfaction thereafter. Some- 
times a poorer church is tempted into such an 
experiment by the wealth and social standing of 
another society, which is not unwilling to add a 
little to its own strength, and which is confidently 
assured that it can dominate the new combina- 
tion. Sometimes the movement is the work of a 
few leading spirits of the weaker body who crave 
for themselves and for their families association 
with more refined and more representative 
people. Not infrequently ambitious leaders and 
committees of the denomination, with the best of 
motives or with others which are more worldly, 
use various arts of suggestion and of diplomacy 
to bring about an alliance Avhich will seem to 
glorify the sect by giving it an outstanding and 
evidently powerful society. How disastrous this 
policy has been in too many instances a study of 
the religious history of many centers of popula- 
tion would incontestably prove. 

Two failures put together will make a success 
is sometimes the church-consolidation argument. 
Two zeroes will make a hundred just as quickly, 
two nights a day, or two corpses a living soul. 
All life is from the living. What is needed in order 

225 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

to the production of great churches? It is "not 
by armies nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith 
the Lord of hosts." Let the people of God look 
to him, and not to prosperous alliances ; let them 
gain strength by the recruiting office, rather than 
by doubling up the commands; let them keep 
to their fortresses, and not retreat to a few cita- 
dels in depleted numbers as these are related to 
the growth of city populations. Concerning the 
work of downtown churches the efficient superin- 
tendent of a Brooklyn and Long Island church so- 
ciety says : "While this is a day of big business, 
the day that believes in consolidation and com- 
bination — the larger the better — it is our expe- 
rience that ten small churches calling out the 
devoted, enthusiastic interest of their congrega- 
tions will accomplish much more for Christ and 
the community than one central church made up 
of those ten churches combined.'' 

To cite a score of instances of church consoli- 
dations w^hich did not consolidate, of combina- 
tions which did not combine, of additions which 
subtracted, would be no difficult task for anyone 
of a fair acquaintance with Christian work in 
cities. One of the great reasons for this was well 
expressed in this saying of a trenchant mono- 
graph : "A Christian church is not a commercial 
organization, but a living organism — Christ the 
Head, his Spirit its life. The body is not bulk 
nor stone, nor dollars and cents, but sensitive 
souls made of sentiment, will, conscience, motive 

226 



DIVISION AND CONSOLIDATION 

— all too sensitive to be juggled with. An out- 
side will, separating or consolidating, is tramp- 
ling on sacred things, and will raise an outcry.'' 
If an outcry is not raised, all the worse ! If, as 
in rare instances, owing to initial blunders or to 
later exchanges of populations, they have been 
known to do, two churches flow together in mutual 
sympathy and with a common conviction and 
inspiration with reference to future service, such 
a union must be blessed of God and approved 
by discerning men. But when altars reared by the 
generosity of departed saints, and whose sacred 
fires were long kept burning by the devotion of 
their founders and successors, are unnecessarily 
destroyed, when vast masses of poor or of alien 
populations are deserted for cultured and well- 
churched neighborhoods, what is this but the re- 
appearance of the golden calf, what but the wor- 
ship of Mammon, Minerva, Baal? And what has 
been the outcome of this business? "It promised 
all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of 
them, without the slow, hard process of sacrifice, 
prayer, and work to win success. Hundreds of 
our city churches have yielded to this temptation, 
taken short cuts to power and influence, killed 
off some weaker church to get its property value, 
sold it, appropriated the cash, built a fine struc- 
ture to minister to denominational vanity, but 
moved away from the people, and therefore away 
from God, and got in exchange nothing but dis- 
appointment, and the divine curse of sterility." 

227 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

This protestant against worldly unwisdom and 
unwise worldliness exclaims : "Is there one pros- 
perous uptown church that was made by selling 
the property of the poor and using the money 
to make a finer building for the wealthy and cul- 
tured? Is there one where two churches were 
thrown together where the united congregation 
was larger than one of the two before?" To this 
query no one should reply hastily. How long has 
the experiment been in trial? Give it the years, 
and then, if the answer is favorable, will the case 
be typical, or will it represent the rarest of rare 
exceptions, establishing the law? 

The power of a church and its value to the com- 
munity cannot be measured in polls. But if 
numbers are the test, why not get them? They 
are all about our city churches, and wealth is 
also all around them. Men and sufficient means 
for Christian undertakings are to be had, but not 
to f aintness of heart. When a church runs down, 
what does it need? To be run out? It should 
be run up again by the love and labors of indom- 
itable incorruptible faith. 

In the spirit there is much, do not doubt, 
Which the world can never touch: fight it out. 

Does the topic before us have a wider bearing? 
With reference to the greater divisions of Chris- 
tendom, it is a common saying, and a very general 
conviction, that the policy of separation into 
sects has been carried to an unwarrantable ex- 

228 



DIVISION AND CONSOLIDATION 

treme. Many families of Christians are founded 
upon no sensible distinction of doctrine or of 
practice from those of others from whose com- 
munion they have severed. Nevertheless, as hu- 
man nature is constituted, it is widely doubted 
whether religious liberty can be preserved and 
organic Christian unity be made an accomplished 
fact. Very few denominational bodies unite, at 
least until they reach the cooling and failing 
stage. Wherever such amalgamations occur in a 
free country they are counterbalanced, so far as 
the number of separated bodies is concerned, by 
the springing up of new societies. Modern edu- 
cation does not seem to prevent this. Indeed, 
thought is divisive. Intelligent men differ, and 
form parties. Life tends to organize itself into 
families and groups. The running stream ripples 
and breaks; it is the stagnant pool which is 
united and calm. The great unifying force is 
love, but love does not exist in a void. It is 
associated with intellects whose real needs may 
conceivably be varied. Perhaps out of the welter 
of life arise aspirations and demands which will 
always be marked from each other by lines of per- 
sonal judgment and discrimination. It may be 
found that when all superficial and transient dif- 
ferences have been disposed of, basic characters 
of the spiritual nature and mind will remain 
which will require separate consideration and 
government. It may even appear that in the 
total more good may be done through many or- 

229 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

ganizations than could be realized by few distinct 
and self-directing bodies. However this may be, 
does it not seem that the practical thing to do is 
to arise from the mechanical conception of an 
external Christian union to the larger and more 
vital idea of an inward and spiritual unity 
through the experience of the sense and appro- 
priate reactions of Christian brotherhood? This 
is also the oneness which is more likely of attain- 
ment, and which provides the element which only 
could give satisfaction in human relations how- 
ever organized. Without question, Jesus meant 
no less than this when in his profound prayer of 
mediation he asked the Father that those who 
believed in him might be one, even as he is one 
with the Father in a oneness incorporeal, spirit- 
ual. 

When the Church is one in heart, names, forms, 
and methods will not divide it nor impede its 
activities. Hostilities, jealousies, and recrim- 
inations are fast disappearing from the minds of 
those who address their prayers to the one God. 
With the complete removal of unkindly feelings, 
desire to compel others to conform to the reli- 
gious rites and to accept the symbols, plans, and 
habits of their neighbors will end in mutual tol- 
erance, and federations will cease trying to push 
each other out, and will devote themselves to the 
great task for which they were originally insti- 
tuted, namely, that of cooperation in social bet- 
terment, and in the general propagation of Chris- 

230 



DIVISION AND CONSOLIDATION 

tianity. Much wisdom lies in the remark of 
Bishop Doane with respect to the divisions of 
Christendom : ^'God can use them, God can fuse 
them, when he will. Nothing is gained by ignor- 
ing them, no good comes out of feigned and forced 
alliances.'' In general, is it not to be noted that 
the best feeling exists, and that social good is be- 
ing more quickly attained, where the churches, 
instead of striving about rights of location and 
of fields, are putting their shoulders together 
against common foes : unrighteousness, injustice, 
ignorance, unhealthfulness, and the godlessness 
out of which these evils spring. 

What a field for Christian cooperation the city 
presents! Educational, philanthropic, and re- 
formative undertakings which represent, not the 
distinctive spiritual, but the resultant practical 
activity of civic Christianity, will doubtless in 
the end be found to be more economically and 
effectively promoted by mutually established 
institutions, supported in common, than by a 
multiplicity of small plants, expensively oper- 
ated, and draining the resources of individual 
churches. Representatives of many societies 
which are in agreement have especial weight with 
municipal governments and with political lead- 
ers. Combined efforts through the pulpits and 
pews of various religious communions have vast 
power to create public opinion, to arouse convic- 
tion, and to hasten action in any matter of impor- 
tance. To the accomplishment of such ends as 

23X 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

can be sought without raising questions of eccle- 
siastical variation, all Christian bodies may 
wisely give their fullest approval and aid, as, 
indeed, in most instances they are ready to do 
whenever competent leadership is exercised. 
The narrow spirit which seeks unity of plan and 
of action only in order to promote partisan and 
selfish interests is the chief hindrance to that 
holy alliance which is needed for the redemption 
of the city. Some day the men of Christ, without 
surrendering their own family convictions and 
habits, or despising those of others, will make 
themselves one body for the cleaning up of the 
town, for the amelioration of distress, for the 
encouragement of social virtue, for the promotion 
of all movements which minister to the common 
good. When that time comes he who sobbed over 
the ancient city will rejoice, for great good will 
be achieved by the union of many hands and 
hearts in the one task of Christian love, and at 
length all the world shall see what John beheld 
in his inspired vision: ^'The holy city, coming 
down out of heaven from God.'' 



232 



CHAPTER XII 
THE CHILDREN OF THE TOWN 

For child-life certainly it appears that "God 
made the country, and man made the town," the 
latter work haying been too narrowly and meanly 
conceived for child cleanliness, for child activity, 
and for child healthf ulness of body and of soul. 

A great clamor of criticism was raised when 
Tennyson wrote "Locksley Hall Sixty Years 
After." The last days of the poet must have been 
sadly, as they were unjustly, embittered by sense- 
less attacks made upon productions which at all 
events were sincere. The pessimism of the second 
Locksley Hall was justified by social conditions 
which came under the eye of Lord Tennyson, and 
the honor of the man, as well as the genius of 
the writer, were fittingly represented in his pro- 
test against modern Slaughter of Innocents. 

Is it well that while we range with science, glorying 

the time, 
City children soak and blacken soul and sense in city 

slime? 

Since the hour when these honest words were 
penned the study of conditions in which children 
live has enlisted many thoughtful minds, and 

233 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

some progress has been made in bettering the 
environment which surrounds youth. The prob- 
lem differs in accordance with the size and type 
of communities. 

More thought should be given to the needs of 
children in country districts and especially to the 
moral influences by which they are affected. 
Contact with depraved help on the farm, and 
with worthless characters in the village, together 
with the lack of elevating interests, often occa- 
sions degeneracy. Not a few noted desperadoes 
and bad characters have come from regions far 
removed from urban temptations and incitements 
to evil. 

The city child is unnaturally old and preco- 
cious, which is one of the best reasons for the pur- 
chase and equipment of playgrounds on the part 
of municipal governments and philanthropic so- 
cieties. The more use they have of breathing and 
exercising places, the happier, healthier and more 
virtuous will become those who are to be future 
citizens. Youth should be able to be joyous with- 
out resorting to questionable haunts and amuse- 
ments. Fresh air and clean out-of-door sports 
are in all respects preferable to the heat and to 
the associations of commercialized picture shows, 
dance halls, white cities, and back alleys. The 
Church should not merely approve wholesome 
pleasures, but should encourage such diversions 
as may fill the leisure hours of boys and girls with 
opportunities of innocent, delightful recreation. 

234 



THE CHILDREN OF THE TOWN 

It is a fortunate downtown church which owns 
sufficient land to make a play spot, and Christian 
is the congregation which would rather see merry 
youngsters on the ground adjoining God's house 
than to behold there green grass and an iron 
fence. If the church which has no such field 
adjacent to its buildings can afford to do so, it 
very wisely secures a tract somewhere else, to be 
used for the benefit of young people, or it utilizes 
assistants to organize and to aid the sports to be 
indulged upon public playgrounds and city parks. 
The care which keeps the easily tempted out of 
harm's way, and which busies them with enjoy- 
able activities, is far superior in judgment and in 
usefulness to attention deferred until redemption 
and restoration to virtue are necessary. This 
work, if it be done in a Christian spirit and with 
a Christian purpose, is, in the best sense of the 
term, religious. 

The Church has no business to make athletics 
or amusements an end in themselves, but neither 
ought it to allow any considerable part of the 
time and practices of the young to be without its 
interest and guidance. It is a serious error to 
turn over to the world the playtime of young 
people, and lamentable and even fatal results 
often follow this blunder and folly. Not a little 
truth is contained in the plea made in the Church 
and the Young Man : ^Tlay is religion's basic 
ally, and it is high time she was marshaling all 
her forces. Religion can never wholly take the 

235 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

place of play, and should not try to win world 
battles without its aid. Beware of a religion 
that substitutes itself for everything ; that makes 
monks. Seek a religion that appropriates every- 
thing. Play is a diversion of the life-force from 
sordid getting and possessing gratifications to 
>something healthful and humanizing. Games 
are the expression of that diversion. As such 
they are handmaids to religion. A boy is a boiler 
of playful energies. Suppress those energies and 
there is danger of an explosion. Juvenile de- 
pravity is lack of outlet. Supply that outlet, 
and the result is moral salvation. Such is the 
function of games, and the Church should utilize 
this practical frieans of grace. The young man's 
favorite game is the halter by which he may be 
led, and the church that lays hold of it not only 
leads the young man, but incidentally seizes her 
own life preserver." 

A similar argument, with special reference to 
the exploitation (through its perfectly natural 
love of amusement) of the other sex, is that of 
Jane Addams in The Spirit of Youth and the 
City Streets: "Since the soldiers of Cromwell 
shut up the people's playhouses and destroyed 
their pleasure fields the Anglo-Saxon city has 
turned over the provision for public recreation 
to the most evil-minded and the most unscrupu- 
lous members of the community. We see thou- 
sands of girls walking up and down the streets 
on a pleasant evening with no chance to catch 

236 



THE CHILDREN OF THE TOWN 

sight of pleasure even through a lighted window 
save as these lurid places provide it. Apparently, 
the modern city sees in these girls only two possi- 
bilities, both of them commercial : first, a chance 
to utilize by day their new and tender labor 
power in its factories and shops, and then an- 
other chance in the evening to extract from them 
their petty wages by pandering to their love of 
pleasure. It is as if our cities had not yet de- 
veloped a sense of responsibility in regard to the 
life of the streets, and continually forgot that 
recreation is stronger than vice, and that recrea- 
tion alone can stifle lust for vice." It is encour- 
aging to note the increase of gymnasiums, of 
playgrounds, and of recreation halls which vari- 
ous churches are opening to city waifs in con- 
gested neighborhoods and in foreign settlements. 
Pitifully inadequate as yet to the needs of the 
larger towns, these institutions greatly aid the 
effort, which some city governments are making, 
to direct to the best uses childhood's spare time 
and surplus energy. That city playgrounds are 
valued is indicated by the estimate that during 
a single year more than a quarter of a million 
people used a single such fresh-air privilege 
offered by Trinity Church, New York city. 
Within the last decade, or a little more, that 
municipality, which long had few central city 
breathing and recreation spots, has by public 
and private enterprise made more than four hun- 
dred playgrounds for children w^here not one pre- 

237 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

viously existed. The influence of Christianity, 
together with the consecration of church grounds 
and means, is behind this wholesome movement. 

The problem of the city is not only the prob- 
lem of its boys and girls, but especially of its 
bad boys and girls. By many good people the 
latter class are taken for granted. Most unfor- 
tunately, they are regarded as a necessary class 
of incorrigibles, whose existence is not to be pre- 
vented, and whose redemption is hardly possible 
by any process. Interesting indeed was the pro- 
test of Jacob Riis, who said that he was con- 
sidered one of the "bad boys" of his day: "My 
position on the bad boy," he says, "is very simple, 
very emphatic, very direct. I believe with the 
Eastern schoolmaster, who said that there were 
different degrees of good boys, but bad boys, he 
didn't know of any. There are, dear friends, not 
any who are deliberately bad, but plenty whom 
we make bad. Even then the boy would rather be 
good than bad, as one of them said, if he were 
given a chance. That chance is the environment 
which it is our business to provide." Judge 
Lindsey has also said of the so-called "bad boy" : 
"There ain't no such thing! I accept the creed 
of the Hoosier poet who expressed it for us 
through the lips of a little child: 

*I believe all chillun's dood, if da's only understood. 
Even the bad 'uns, 'pears to me, is just as dood as they 
can be.' " 

Children are what adults and conditions which 

238 



THE CHILDREN OF THE TOWN 

adults create compel them to be. Concerning a 
youngster who was a pretty "bad actor" a college 
professor remarked "That boy would be all right 
if he had a ^sporty dad.' '' Virtuous and wise 
parents who also possess a sense of play and of 
humor, have few bad children. Officers of the 
law are to a considerable extent responsible for 
the conduct of the youngsters among whom they 
move. "I have known a whole neighborhood to 
be changed by changing the policeman. There 
was a bad gang there, and the whole thing was 
changed. We didn't change the gang. W^e 
changed the policeman. That was all. So much 
for the power of personality, if you please — the 
soul-to-soul, and heart-to-heart, dealing with hu- 
man beings, rather than with the mere things 
they do." 

Judge Lindsey, the author of the above state- 
ment, has taught parents, society, and the 
Church many valuable lessons in the work of 
regeneration by such instances as the following : 
"One of the early cases that came to my court 
was a little gang of bedraggled, dripping boys 
that a policeman had dragged out of the only 
swimming pool in town, down by the railroad 
track. Some prudish people couldn't stand it to 
see little boys in that unfortunate state. As 1 
gazed out of the courthouse windows I saw two 
big fountains gurgling up their artificial showers. 
Sporting down below were little boys of brass 
and iron, clad in a coat of paint. It was shock- 

239 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

ing, but it didn't shock any prudish people. I 
found on investigation it cost us several thousand 
dollars a summer to have those fountains, and I 
said to myself, ^If this toAvn can pay several 
thousand dollars a summer for artificial foun- 
tains for boys of brass and iron, it can pay some- 
thing for boys of flesh and blood.' So the judg- 
ment of the court, in that case, was not that they 
be sent to jail. I said, ^Kids, you better go swim- 
ming in the fountain, since there is no SAvimming 
pool.' You know sometimes a community needs 
a jar and a jolt, to be waked up. Mr. Riis gave 
it to them in New York, and he taught some of 
us to do it in some other cities. The police did 
not think I meant it. When they brought the 
bedraggled, dripping little kids into court again, 
expecting we would send them to jail, I smiled 
into the faces of the kids and the policemen, and 
the verdict of the court was, ^Kids, back to the 
fountain.' The smile on the face of the kids was 
an interesting contrast to the frown that cov- 
ered the visage of the officer who did not under- 
stand. But in time — when the community woke 
up to the fact that it was not the child that ought 
to be before the bar of justice, but the community 
— we had seven public baths in the park, and one 
great big, splendid public bath in the town, and 
we didn't need to jail any more boys for that sort 
of thing." 

What about "movies," especially in the lower 
quarters of the town? The sooner the Church 

240 



THE CHILDKEN OF THE TOWN 

furnishes free, or practically free, picture shows 
in such districts, the more speedily vulgar 
theaters will be elevated in tone or forced out of 
business by a cleaner and not less interesting 
and attractive competition. Film-makers will 
provide the best subjects just as fast as churches, 
Christian Associations, and schools provide a 
market for them. The eye is an inlet to the soul, 
as well as to the mind. Shall the memories of 
children become galleries of lewd images, and of 
coarse caricatures, or shall they be stored with 
visions of purity, beauty, knowledge, and joy? 
The picture show has come to stay, and it is a 
great teacher and force for good and evil. The 
layman who provides and endows a clean and up- 
to-date "movie,^' in church management or out of 
it, is an educator and a philanthropist. Churches 
which have opened such agencies of mental and 
moral instruction are cheating Satan of his prey 
and are making conquests for wisdom and virtue. 
Summer open-air and tent meetings for the 
conversion and for the Christian culture of chil- 
dren have proved to be even more effective than 
have been those held at other seasons of the year. 
A description of such meetings conducted in New 
York city says : ^'Boys and girls to the number of 
ninety-five thousand six hundred and eighty nine 
were assembled in the various meetings held for 
them. Some pathetic little waifs of humanity 
drift into the tents, and incidentally into the 
arms and hearts of loving friends ; boys who know 

241 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

no other name than such epithets as ^Turkey/ 
^Ked/ or The Cockroach' ; girls who are running 
wild, some of them leaders of ^gangs' as mis- 
chievous and dreadful in their ways as those 
formed by their brothers. Older boys, youths in 
their teens, have been helped to cleaner ways of 
living, to respect and regard for the laws of city 
and state, as well as for the higher law of God. 
Services for children and young people are al- 
ways conducted in English.'' This represents a 
^'Summer School" worth talking about, doubtless 
productive of as much good as comes out of the 
costly enterprises of some of the greatest institu- 
tions of learning. It has often been a matter of 
wonder why more out-of-door work is not done 
by village and country churches. Possibly there 
is no novelty about the open to attract those who 
dwell in rural neighborhoods. The empty lots 
of cities could be utilized to great advantage as 
centers of moral instruction and of Christian 
influence, and to big-town dwellers these institu- 
tions may be made exceedingly popular and ef- 
fective. 

It is often charged that Protestantism has 
failed in the religious training of children, and 
to a measurable extent this is true. It is, how- 
ever, probable that an investigation would reveal 
the fact that Romanism, while perhaps more suc- 
cessful than are the Protestant churches in de- 
veloping ^'Churchianity," is not more successful, 
to put the case mildly, in producing ethical intel- 

242 



THE CHILDKEN OF THE TOWN 

ligence and fidelity. And as between loyalty to 
the Church, to services, sacraments, and priests, 
and loyalty to God and the right, no Christian 
mind can hesitate for a moment as to the choice 
which should be made. 

But why not the catechism? The instructions 
of the Church as an interpreter of the Scriptures 
furnish a spiritual foundation for morality. 
Doctrina^ the teaching of relationships and of 
principles and life, with its gifts and experi- 
ences, are to each other as cause and effect. 
This was the mind of Washington, who pro- 
foundly observed, "Let us with caution indulge 
the supposition that morality can be maintained 
without religion. Reason and experience both 
forbid us to expect that natural morality can pre- 
vail in exclusion of religious principle." But chil- 
dren are too busy with their schools and with 
their pleasures to give any time or attention to 
such matters. No! rather pastors and church 
members are too fully preoccupied with their 
duties and their pleasures to teach Christianity 
to boys and girls. The Sunday school alone can- 
not do this adequately : its time is too short, its 
aim must be too immediate and direct, its teach- 
ing force is unequal to the task of simplifying 
and illustrating ecclesiastical and theological 
truths. This will be the case even when the 
modern notion of paid Bible class teachers comes 
into general vogue, if it does so arrive, and even 
if the fear of a perfunctory professionalism is 

243 



THE CHUECH IN THE CITY 

not realized. Many facts of Christian revelation 
or of experience which children should be taught 
require the preparation and skill of a divinely 
called and a thoroughly equipped tutor. If I 
were again a pastor, I would do more of this 
work myself, at any sacrifice of other matters, 
and you who read these words as a minister of 
Christ will do well to form your own resolution 
as to so sacred a task. 

Pastors, assistant pastors, deaconesses, and 
other persons whose entire lives are given to 
Christian labors should prove to be the best 
teachers of religion to children. The improving 
organization of city church service will develop 
experts. Time can be found. The children will 
come, if proper effort is made, both in securing 
attendance and in keeping the work fresh and 
interesting. To my own satisfaction, and I trust 
to the good of a fair proportion of those who came 
for the purpose, it was demonstrated in several 
pastorates that classes for instruction in the rules 
and doctrines of the Church and of the Word 
could be formed, and maintained for reasonable 
periods of time. I believe it would pay to put 
labor and money into this work, combining les- 
son-giving with various social features and 
recreations. In the spring and summer, outings 
and excursions may be made a lure to the accept- 
ance of catechetical teaching and an aid to its 
effectiveness. 

The Church must be in sympathy with all 

244 



THE CHILDKEN OF THE TOWN 

movements for the culture and betterment of chil- 
dren. It must befriend and assist all teachers. 
It cannot properly fail to lend its faith and its 
aid to all unselfish and genuine social workers 
and organizations. It must be the source of in- 
spiration which produces, recognizes, and sup- 
ports unique characters with special missions 
and ministries. Childhood needs a multitude of 
citizens like, for instance, those extremes of train- 
ing and of personality, Charles Loring Brace and 
Jacob Haberle ; one university trained, the other 
self-taught ; one affiliated with the higher classes 
of society, the other a teamster, but both philan- 
thropists and gentlemen and lovers of children. 
The career of the author of Gesta Christi is well 
known. He founded the Children's Aid Society 
of New York City, incorporated in 1854, "for the 
education of the poor, by gathering children w^ho 
attended no school into its industrial schools, car- 
ing and providing for children in lodging houses, 
and procuring for them homes in rural districts 
and in the West." The record of this society for 
vast numbers of orphans or destitute children 
placed in good homes, for the care of those defec- 
tive or sick, for reading room, lodging house, 
kindergarten, industrial school, and similar work, 
is one of the modern miracles of humanitarian 
labor and achievement. Were there no other 
minute of service rendered by this organization, 
the following statement alone would be sufficient 
to disclose a marvelous activity and usefulness : 

245 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

"The Children's Aid Society, in the last sixty 
years, has sent seventy thousand and more boys 
out of the slums of the cities to the Western 
plains, where they have a chance to grow up." 
Other items of work done are impressive. 

The life of Charles Loring Brace was almost 
wholly spent among the poor children and youth 
of New York, but the influence of his labors 
extended to all cities of America and of Europe. 
The advice of this highly cultured specialist in 
human betterment was widely sought by those 
enlisted in philanthropic service, and his writ- 
ings are a valuable contribution to the literature 
of social reforms. The basis of much sociological 
literature is closet reading and thinking, and the 
result is a mass of academic notions and theories. 
It is the glory of workers like Spurgeon and 
Mtiller, Brace and Bernardo, Riis and Lindsey, 
that their written works grew out of their deeds 
and experiences. 

At the very extreme from Charles Loring Brace 
was Jacob Haberle, of Cincinnati, organizer of a 
Teamsters' Union, who had to teach himself to 
read, who never earned over eleven dollars a 
week, but whose brief career left an ineffaceable 
impression upon a town where many great per- 
sonages have accomplished exceedingly little 
toward the improvement of human life. This 
"common Dutchman," as he called himself, found 
that teamsters, when compelled to water their 
horses at troughs owned by saloon keepers, were 

246 



THE CHILDREN OF THE TOWN 

made uncomfortable if they did not patronize the 
bar. He canvassed the preachers, teachers, and 
leading business men of the city, and aroused 
such an interest in the matter of public drinking 
places for animals that on a day appointed the 
Cincinnati Common Council was literally bom- 
barded with letters and petitions on this subject. 
Taken by surprise, and off its guard, this body 
immediately made a very handsome appropria- 
tion to inaugurate a much-needed system of 
relief for man and beast. 

Haberle was a sweatshop and white-plague 
fighter of the first order. It was by his efforts 
that the city's hack-drivers, grave-diggers, and 
preachers of the gospel were relieved from the 
burden of Sunday funerals. But Haberle's great- 
est service was done for children. This big- 
hearted workingman, who said he had no spirit 
in him to ask any woman to share his pittance of 
wages, and to try to make them keep up a home, 
and who by reason of this fine sense of honor 
never had a child of his own, opened his heart to 
all the children of his own town and of the land. 
Finding that many families of his acquaintance 
were oppressed by the high cost of textbooks, he 
reasoned and agitated until free books were 
furnished all the boys and girls of the Cincinnati 
public schools. And this man who lacked early 
education, and who was self-instructed in his 
mature age, edited, largely wrote, and published 
one of the earliest anti-child-labor organs. The 

247 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

career of Haberle is one of the romances of city 
philanthropy. 

Fortunately, every great community has some 
"Soldiers of the Common Good," civic patriots, 
friends of man, protectors and rescuers of chil- 
dren. The Church should properly estimate and 
prize these valuable members of society, over- 
looking their faults, if they have them, and if 
they cannot help to correct them, and cooperat- 
ing with their wise and progressive undertak- 
ings. And out of religious centers should come 
doctrines and personalities highly charged with 
the spirit of Him who drew to himself the atten- 
tion and the love of children just as naturally, 
as certainly, and as helpfully as the sun turns to 
its heart the faces of the flowers and transforms 
them into the image of its own loveliness. 

One of the most interesting religious phe- 
nomena of recent times is the marvelous develop- 
ment of the Sunday or Bible school, as it is com- 
ing to be called. If little is said here upon this 
subject, it is because its literature is already so 
voluminous and effective. The most distinctive 
features of Bible school progress are the organ- 
ized adult classes, and the modern kindergartens. 
Present emphasis is laid upon the need of better 
instruction, and improved helps and teacher- 
training classes are in evidence to meet this 
want. It hardly seems probable that paid peda- 
gogues will soon become general, since their em- 
ployment is costly, and the danger of profession- 

248 



THE CHILDREN OF THE TOWN 

alism so apparent and dreaded. The belief seems 
justified that voluntary service contains in itself 
a valuable lesson, and that often a more represen- 
tative group of characters are to be found in 
the teaching force of a good Sunday school under 
the system now widespread than could be induced 
to serve for money. Personality is instruction, 
and example is more effective than theory, but it 
may appear later that the younger classes may 
be wisely intrusted to experienced tutors. 

It appears certain that despite criticism, the 
Sunday school is the most effective and reliable 
of all the evangelistic agencies of the Church. 
If methods of Bible teaching may be improved, 
so much the better, but the main business of the 
school is achieved if Christ is attractively pre- 
sented and goodness successfully taught. Better 
the most old-fashioned Bible teachers and teach- 
ing than scientific formalism and religious shal- 
lowness. The mind goes back to a teacher who 
broke many grammatical rules, and who knew 
nothing much concerning the literary and his- 
torical problems of the divine writings, but who 
had "a daily beauty in his life," and a personal 
acquaintance with the Son of God which were 
beyond "criticism." If the gold can be preserved, 
let the molds be improved, but do not add to the 
secularization of the public schools an artificial- 
izing of the institution which alone brings the 
Holy Scriptures within the reach of childhood. 

The new interest in Bible study which modern 

249 



THE CHUECH IN THE CITY 

research has created gives to the Sunday school 
a great opportunity. Because of a better under- 
standing of Old Testament characters and ideals 
it has become much easier to make plain the truth 
to bright-minded boys and girls. A deep sense of 
gratitude should be given to scholars who have 
freed us from the necessity of believing in the 
Jews when their spirits and acts were anti- Chris- 
tian. But the sense of obligation should, after 
all, be chiefly exercised because of a deeper 
emphasis upon the moral and spiritual elements 
in biblical narratives and maxims, and because 
of a quickened consciousness of the relativity of 
the Scriptures to present thought and experience. 
The results of these achievements are subtly 
imparted to children. 

It must be protested that not enough expend- 
iture of means as well as of thought is made upon 
Sunday school equipment and undertakings. In 
some instances the law of nature is reversed, and 
the children of the Church are made to contribute 
to the support of the work of their elders. A 
growing disposition to put reasonable appro- 
priations into the instruction and discipline of 
boys and girls is in harmony with the best inter- 
ests of Christianity and of society alike. Modern 
Bible school buildings are making teaching more 
convenient and effective and learning more de- 
lightful. City churches which do not have 
new and well-arranged structures of this kind, 
as a rule, are making earnest efforts to secure 

250 



THE CHILDEEN OF THE TOWN 

them. The prosperity of the twentieth-century 
Sunday school is a source of gratification to 
Christian workers, and it is one of the most pro- 
phetic signs of coming days of virtue and peace. 
Can it be doubted that the stupendous prohibi- 
tion movement which is taking place before our 
eyes has been greatly aided by the long-continued 
teaching of children in the Sunday school, to 
which in later years have been added the discus- 
sions of adult classes of men and women com- 
prising in the aggregate hundreds of thousands 
of people influential in the communities in which 
they dwell? 

The Church is taking an ever-Avidening part in 
ministry to child life, not merely within its own 
walls but everywhere. Attention is being given, 
not alone to religious instruction, but to physical 
and social conditions of all types. This is ex- 
ceeding well. If any truth is contained in the 
statement that "the nineteenth century redis- 
covered the child," it may be added that it re- 
mains for the twentieth century to devise ade- 
quate means for meeting the practical needs of 
city children, particularly of the poorer classes. 
It was a great step forward when Christianity 
decided to care for dependent children. "The 
God that answereth by orphanages," nobly ex- 
claimed Spurgeon, "let him be God." The God 
that answereth by homes, hospitals, and schools 
is in truth a mighty and a loving God I And he 
is now answering by institutions that care not 

251 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

only for the parentless, but for dwellers in tene- 
ments and closes, so that health, culture, and 
gladness are being placed within the reach of 
thousands of little lives which would otherwise 
be condemned to dirt, disease, vice, and gloom. 
In every such work divine grace is charmingly 
exhibited, and those who cooperate with God in 
his task as Father of the neediest may be sure of 
the value of their undertakings and of the ap- 
proval of Him with whom they toil. When the 
Children's Settlement of Morgan Memorial Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, Boston, was dedicated, 
a hymn written for the occasion voiced supplica- 
tions which heaven must surely grant in all in- 
stances of vital ministry to the needs of boys and 
girls. 

Consecrate us. Holy Spirit, 

While we dedicate to God 
Halls for play and work and worship 

To the children of Christ's love 
Blessed Jesus! Blessed Jesus! 

Every child by thee is loved. 

In these halls for recreation 

Which we dedicate to thee, 
Manifest thy great salvation; 

Make thy children's bodies free. 
Blessed Jesus! Blessed Jesus! 

Prom all sickness keep them free. 

In these halls for art and music 

May heav'ns harmonies be found: 
In the creche and kindergarten 
May Christ's love in all abound. 
Blessed Jesus! BlessM Jesus! 
May thy love in all abound. 
252 



THE CHILDREN OF THE TOWN 

In these halls where we shall worship 

May thy Spirit ever stay. 
May we know that Christ is with us — 

Will go with us all the way. 
Blessed Jesus! Blessed Jesus! 

Do thou lead us every day. 



253 



CHAPTEE XIII 

CITY MISSIONS AND SUBUKBANITES 

Okganized missionary effort in cities may be 
divided into secular and religious, the first of 
these divisions including various clubs, societies, 
and settlements, which are really a product of 
Christian thinking and philanthropy, but which 
primarily aim at education and improved en- 
vironment rather than at regeneration. In the 
list of religious missions are Christian Associa- 
tions, interdenominational rescue societies, 
church missions, and mission churches. The 
Church mission and the mission church claim 
most of our attention in this chapter, but no 
helpful institution should be without the inter- 
est of Christian intelligence and sympathy. Fol- 
lowers of Christ should "sow beside all waters," 
or if they cannot do this individually, they should 
rejoice in the good work of others. Moreover, a 
little leavening of the organizations which seek 
social betterment, through the appreciation and 
cooperation of church leaders and people, is a 
fine antidote for materialism. Whenever an 
opening occurs the Church should accept repre- 
sentation on the executive boards of societies 

254 



CITY MISSIONS AND SUBUKBANITES 

which have a worthy civic purpose. Pastoral 
care is wisely devoted to the matter of suitable 
appointments to these places, and to delegated 
attendance at important functions of the parent 
bodies. While it is a truism that the Church 
itself is the minister's first care if his work is to 
have intensity and quality, yet it is a very Chris- 
tian society w^hich receives with pleasure such re- 
ports as the following : "True to the traditions of 
the First Church, its pastor continues to be one of 
these to whom those engaged in the larger move- 
ments for the betterment of the world can look 
for help and encouragement as needed. These 
increased responsibilities upon our pastor place 
increased responsibility upon the membership of 
this church, which, as in the past, so now, will 
be met." It may be that community movements 
and the w^ork of secular societies are not larger, 
but smaller, in scope and in probable results, 
than are many avowedly religious undertakings, 
but they should not therefore be neglected. 
Every effort to attain good and every form of 
service from the newsboys' club to Socialism, and 
from the juvenile court to the university settle- 
ment, should be made to feel the thoughtful inter- 
est and the fellowship in labor of the Christian 
Church. It should be remembered that even the 
poorest institution of all that seek to minister 
to humanity is a "broken light" which reflects the 
influence of the Son of God, and which, both for 
that reason, and because to some it is a mirror of 

255 



THE CHUECH IN THE CITY 

truth and of righteousness, should share in the 
consideration of organized and broad-minded 
Christianity. 

Christian associations and rescue missions are 
what the churches make them, and even the Sal- 
vation Army draws most of its force of w^orkers 
from the Church. In a very peculiar sense these 
organizations are the Church serving the needs of 
special classes, and this fact is fully recognized 
by many of their leaders. They welcome the at- 
tention of pastors and of church people, for they 
feel that they need their aid and counsel. If it 
were not for the life of the parent stem thrown 
into these branches of Christian endeavor they 
would deteriorate and perish. They ought to be 
kept up to the mark of their greatest possible 
usefulness. The Church loses more by their 
weakness than it costs to maintain and to develop 
them into a high state of efficiency. 

No adjunct or associate agency of Christian 
influence can take the place of the Church itself 
in its divinely appointed offices of evangelism, 
teaching, and healing. The Church has no right 
to delegate to others any form of work which it 
can competently perform in propria persona. 
There will always be room for independent or 
loosely affiliated societies seeking to do reform- 
atory and religious service, but the Church itself 
must be vitally related to every type of redemp- 
tive effort, and must have its own missions of 
every useful nature. 

256 



CITY MISSIONS AND SUBURBANITES 

Church missions are of four classes: mission 
halls, weak churches for poor and alien peoples 
supported by stronger societies or by groups of 
societies through a missionary board, or City 
Society, denominational or interdenominational, 
new organizations formed and aided in a sim- 
ilar way until on their feet, and mission churches, 
which are also institutional in their methods and 
more or less independent in their support. It is 
possible within reasonable space merely to men- 
tion a few typical instances of such institutions. 
The Hadley Rescue Mission, of New York, is 
under Methodist Episcopal management. The 
class of persons to which this famous mother- 
house of "twice-born'' men ministers is habitues 
of ^'the underworld." Wesley House is a settle- 
ment connected with Madison Avenue Church, 
New York city. Four workers are in residence 
and many volunteers are used. Daily kinder- 
garten, branch of penny bank, hours for games, 
gymnasium classes, sewing and millinery classes, 
domestic science, debating clubs, mothers' talks, 
a "First Aid" room, and gospel meetings are 
among the principal undertakings. To the same 
denomination belongs Hull Street Settlement, 
Boston, a medical mission with daily clinics and 
dispensary service, whose physicians and sur- 
geons reside in a district largely Italian, and 
treat between fifteen and twenty thousand pa- 
tients annually. Clubs and classes are also main- 
tained. The New York, Brooklyn, and Chicago 

257 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

Home Missionary and Church Extension Soci- 
eties of the Methodist Episcopal Church are large 
organizations doing almost every type of Church 
work. The Chicago society holds property and 
endowments worth in the neighborhood of half a 
million dollars. In Sioux City, Iowa, Methodism 
has the Wall Street and Helping Hand Missions, 
which together practically cover the kind of serv- 
ice w^hich they offer for the whole city. Helping 
Hand has a Free Kest Koom, Free Employment 
Bureau, Free Dispensary, Eescue Home for Girls, 
Lodging for Men, Reading Eoom, and nightly 
Gospel Meetings. Wall Street is an industrial 
and social center. It has clubs for men, young 
men, boys, women, and girls. It possesses a 
library, day nursery, savings bank, medical dis- 
pensary, children's clinics, legal aid, employ- 
ment bureau, and shower baths. It conducts 
classes in manual training, cooking, sewing, gym- 
nastics, music, dressmaking, kindergarten work, 
and other subjects. It has regular church serv- 
ices of all kinds, including cottage and open-air 
meetings, and its summer work includes Bible 
school, camps, playground, outings, and neigh- 
borhood survey. Fort Street Mission and Till- 
man Settlement, Detroit, are engaged in neigh- 
borhood and foreign rather than rescue mission 
undertakings, the former being sustained by the 
Methodist City Union and the latter by the 
Woman's Home Missionary Society. The Pro- 
testant Episcopal and Methodist Episcopal 

258 



CITY MISSIONS AND SUBURBANITES 

Churches have city missions in Philadelphia. 
Second Presbyterian Church, Newark, supports 
a fine mission with institutional features. First 
Congregational Church, Columbus, sustains a 
settlement in another part of the town, and Inde- 
pendent Presbyterian Church, Savannah, sup- 
ports two missions, as do also the Episcopal 
Cathedral of San Francisco and the Lafayette 
Avenue Presbyterian, Brooklyn. "The Baptist 
denomination has no doubt developed the most 
efficient city mission work in Cleveland.'' First 
Presbyterian, Saint Joseph, supports a mission 
church, as do the First Presbyterian churches of 
Topeka and Wheeling. 

Most of the leading denominations have prom- 
ising work among peoples of foreign birth. The 
Congregational Church reports a dozen or more 
missions for Orientals. The Boston City Mis- 
sionary Society is a Congregational body which 
finds that in recent years it has gathered into 
churches, Sunday schools, and under missionary 
instruction representatives of twenty-seven dif- 
ferent nationalities, the greater number being 
Swedish, German, Danish, Irish, Norwegian, 
Italian, Armenian, French, Finn, Russian, and 
Greek. Twenty-five missionaries are employed. 
During the past year these agents visited about 
seventeen thousand different families, and dis- 
tributed over thirty thousand pieces of Chris- 
tian literature. The Methodist Episcopal Church 
has upward of forty missions and mission 

259 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

churches among the Italians. As stated else- 
where, Bethany Collegiate Presbyterian Churchy 
Philadelphia, supports a Sunday Morning Free 
Breakfast and Refuge Home, where outcasts 
are lioused in the winter and fed every Sunday 
morning. ■ The Presbyterian Church renders a 
broad service for aliens, among its charges 
being Italians, Chinese, Frenchmen, and Slavs. 
The Baptist Hungarian Mission of Cincinnati 
is largely supported by Episcopalians. In Mil- 
waukee are two Polish missions — one Baptist 
and one Methodist — and in the same city the 
Evangelical Association has an excellent Italian 
mission. In Rochester the Baptists, Presbyte- 
rians, and Methodists each have an Italian work. 
Akron Baptists have a Roumanian mission, and 
the Reformed Church works among Hungarians. 
Sacramento possesses a Japanese Presbyterian 
mission and Congregational, Methodist and Bap- 
tist missions for Chinese. Wisely the amount of 
this service is increasing. Experience proves that 
the effort to reach alien races in America with 
Christian teaching is both expensive and difficult, 
but it must be done at any cost. The year books 
of various denominations reveal the present con- 
dition of the work, and its numerical results. 
The remarkable thing about these reports is the 
evidence given of the comparatively trivial ex- 
penditures made upon an undertaking of the 
greatest consequence to both Church and nation. 
Both for the sake of the United States of Amer- 

260 



CITY MISSIONS AND SUBURBANITES 

ica, and because of the far-reaching effects upon 
the problem of the world's redemption, this form 
of city missionary endeavor must be taken more 
seriously. 

With reference to new organizations, called 
missions until they become self-supporting or 
until they arrive at the point of efficiency and 
dignity, little needs to be said except that these 
experiments are not always well-timed or well- 
planned, and that commonly they are more costly 
by far than would be the case if they were begun 
with more initial outlay. Cheap sites are chosen, 
mean in location and niggardly in size, and inade- 
quate plants are erected. It has seemed neces- 
sary to make a number of references to the wiser 
practice of Romanism. A shrewd Protestant 
layman says, "The Catholic Church, by use of the 
combined credits of its properties, enabling it to 
borrow at the most advantageous rate, is able to 
anticipate the needs of neighborhoods which it 
wishes to enter, and to build institutions to which 
the membership must grow, and for which, 
indeed, they must in the end pay, but they do not 
have to put up three or four successive churches 
in order to get one that is permanently useful." 

The Ninth Street Baptist Church, of Cincin- 
nati, with its various "Stations,'' presents a 
unique and interesting grouping of city work, 
which is also decidedly suggestive. In 1888, to 
the Rev. Johnston Myers, then pastor, a layman 
of another denomination declared the need of 

261 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

carrying the gospel to portions of the city not 
properly covered by church work. This idea took 
such firm possession of the mind of the hearer 
that he assembled his official supporters to a 
council about a table on which was spread a map 
of Cincinnati. The study was convincing, and 
within a few days a mission on Gilbert Avenue, 
known as Station A, was opened to the public, 
and proved to be an immediate success. Since 
that time five other permanent stations have been 
established, the properties of most of them being 
owned by Ninth Street Church, which operates 
them all as branches of one work. Very recently 
First Baptist Church was merged into the Ninth 
Street, which maintains services at First Church 
as at its other stations. This work is not en- 
dowed, and the main church has only of late 
acquired suitable property for diversified parish 
activity. The pastor has several assistants asso- 
ciated with him in the management of the mis- 
sions, and a missionary pastor and wife are also 
employed. Industrial schools, benevolent soci- 
eties and ministry to homes afflicted by disease 
and other troubles are pronounced activities of 
the Ninth Street Chapels. 

Considering the needs of American cities, it is 
simply astonishing that so few full-fiedged mis- 
sion churches are to be found. Indeed, less than 
one third of the large cities of America report the 
churches as conducting local mission work of any 
nature, except through auxiliary societies. Of 

262 



CITY MISSIONS AND SUBUEBANITES 

churches of the mission type perhaps none is 
more distinctive and well adapted to modern con- 
ditions than is Morgan Memorial Methodist Epis- 
copal Church of Boston, which is described as a 
religious social-service institution of four main 
departments. First of all is a church for English- 
speaking worship, with branches for different na- 
tionalities. The Morgan Memorial is frankly 
a church, which fact is no necessary bar to the 
best ministry to the people. An authority on 
Methodist Episcopal city work lays emphasis 
upon this method of approach : ^'We maintain 
churches, while they [certain other denomina- 
tions] organize and maintain missions." The 
claim is made that the result is greater perma- 
nence in downtown districts. The Morgan Memo- 
rial Children's Settlement is provided with 
recreational, philanthropic, and educational priv- 
ileges which are exceedingly popular. The Settle- 
ment House is located in Boston, and the mission 
possesses also a fresh-air plantation elsewhere. 
Boys, girls, and babies are cared for in wooden 
camps of good quality. A model rescue work is 
conducted, and every effort is made to reach vic- 
tims of evil habits, and those classes which are 
dangerous to their associates. The industrial de- 
partment has a large, well-equipped building in 
the city, and at South Athol, Massachusetts, are 
located its rug factory, blacksmith shop, bakery, 
men's camp and training school, and women's 
camp. Every effort is made to relieve the desti- 

263 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

tute by methods which preserve self-respect, and 
attention is given both to temporary relief and 
to permanent industrial and social betterment. 
It is apparent that Morgan Memorial represents 
a much-needed form of church service in the 
great cities, while it is not, of course, to be classed 
with ordinary institutional churches whose field 
is among the so-called better classes of society. 
This church really represents a highly evolved 
and improved type of rescue mission, one which 
combines valuable ecclesiastical and spiritual 
elements with the most practical and democratic 
application of Christian love to human needs. 
Another valuable mission church of a different 
variety is the Mariners' Baptist of Boston. 

Of undenominational societies working in the 
field of city missions the oldest and largest is the 
New York City Mission and Tract Society, which 
is rapidly approaching the end of a hundred years 
of history. This organization began as a volun- 
teer corps of visitors seeking churchless peoples 
and inviting them to the house of God. The 
distribution of religious literature was one of 
the methods of evangelism extensively employed. 
The society was established in 1827, was incor- 
porated in 1866, and has used paid agents since 
1833. A force of some seventy persons is now in 
the field, principally composed of women, as it 
has been found that they have superior means of 
access to the homes of tenement dwellers, and 
that they can render services which men cannot 

264 



CITY MISSIONS AND SUBURBANITES 

accomplish. The City Mission has acquired prop- 
erties worth over |600,000, and including several 
churches, the first of which was founded in 1867 
in a congested part of town. In these churches 
preaching and teaching are carried on in English, 
German, Italian, Yiddish, and Spanish. The 
churches of the society have, as is noted else- 
where, a strongly developed institution alism. 
German, Italian, and English churches govern 
themselves in all spiritual concerns, but the Mis- 
sion retains a veto power, which it has not been 
necessary to exercise. Of course it also holds the 
property titles. The only prescribed basis of 
church organization is the Apostles' Creed. 
Sacraments are administered by regularly or- 
dained clergymen. Women missionaries live in 
a Christian workers' home. About |50,000 annu- 
ally is expended, perhaps half of this from endow- 
ments and investments. 

The Brooklyn City Mission and Tract Society 
receives much of its sustenance from Congrega- 
tional and Episcopalian sources, although its 
president is a Methodist, and a few years since 
a layman of the latter Church left the organiza- 
tion a legacy of |T5,000. A considerable hold has 
been gained upon Italians. A unique feature is 
a home for men in the depths as the result of 
crime or sin. Much literature is distributed. 

It is not within the intended scope and purpose 
of this volume to develop at any length the ac- 
count of Christian work in foreign cities. It may 

265 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

be said, however, in connection with the discus- 
sion of the present topic that in England the Wes- 
leyan Methodist Church has combined the 
strength of all its societies to build up in the 
cities commanding popular organizations, whose 
central pulpits are manned by the ablest pulpit 
and spiritual leaders. Supported by the denom- 
ination as a whole, and furnished such forces of 
workers as the community demands, these preach- 
ers are able to secure a hearing and a following 
which is remarkable. It is said that on Sun- 
day evenings they address two, three, or even 
five thousand persons. The effect of this on the 
regular Sunday night work of the chapels is a 
matter worth considering, but conditions in Eng- 
lish cities doubtless justify the movement, or it 
would not retain the hearty support of the church 
public. Those who are interested in city mis- 
sions abroad should also study the work insti- 
tuted in Glasgow in 1826 by David Nasmith, 
called ^'the originator of city missions,'' and who 
as secretary of various Christian societies com- 
bined them in the employment of missionaries 
independent of individual congregations. Lord 
Shaftesbury countenanced a like movement in 
London in 1835. From 1848 Germany was en- 
rolled in the list of countries with a city mission- 
ary propaganda. "The Hamburg Society for the 
Inner Mission" was planned by J. H. Wichern, 
who drew his inspiration from the London City 
Mission. Among items of work attempted were 

266 



CITY MISSIONS AND SUBUKBANITES 

visitation of the poor, care of needy artisans, 
journeymen, and apprentices, circulation of good 
literature, union of young merchants, and sup- 
pression of public immorality. Die Berliner 
Stadt Mission^ which began work in 1874, by the 
year 1906, had come to operate a force consist- 
ing of six theological inspectors and sixty-two 
city missionaries. Of the latter, in contrast with 
the practice of the New York City Mission, but 
eight were women. In a single year of the work 
of this society 95,000 visits were made, of which 
it was reported that 4,677 had reference to the 
needs of unbaptized children, 3,539 to the condi- 
tion of couples living together without marriage, 
and 959 to cases of children arrested for acts of 
lawlessness. Sixty-nine Sunday schools enrolled 
3,300 pupils, and twenty-four religious services 
were maintained. Nearly one hundred other 
cities followed the example of Hamburg and 
Berlin in establishing city missions. The mis- 
sionaries of these organizations devoted them- 
selves largely to evangelizing especially those 
who were compelled to labor Sundays, and per- 
sons without permanent homes, as seamen, fisher- 
men, inmates of prisons, and the unemployed. 
Other undertakings were to combat drunkenness 
and immorality, to circulate Christian tracts, and 
to harmonize social relations by lectures on suit- 
able topics. In Berlin a City Committee for the 
Inner Mission was erected in 1899. In 1888 the 
"Evangelical Church Aid Society" was estab- 

267 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

lislied under imperial patronage, and devoted 
itself to the assistance of efforts for the eradica- 
tion of irreligion and immorality in the cities and 
industrial centers of Germany. 

We now turn our thought to the relation 
between city evangelization and suburban re- 
sources. City churches, and especially downtown 
churches, are recruiting stations for parishes 
in the suburbs. Canvass the church members in 
Montclair and Yonkers, and discover how many 
of them or of their parents were once connected 
with church life in Manhattan and the Bronx. 
Similar conditions will be found in Germantown, 
Grosse Pointe, Avondale, Evanston, and Oak- 
land. Eventually the removal of well-to-do mem- 
bers means missionary support, or the extinction 
of unendowed central city churches. 

It has been shown elsewhere that as towns en- 
large church membershii3S withdraAV toward their 
circumferences, so that the older churches are 
gateways to the newer organizations. It is the 
improvement of facilities of transportation which 
has caused this movement to go much farther. 
Tubes, trolleys, and motor cars enable those who 
do business in the big town to live comfortably 
many miles away from even the city limits. This 
is sending former supporters of downtown Chris- 
tian work into other municipalities and centers, 
and in some cases into other States. Yet these 
people make their living in the great city, and 
look to it for a continuation of their prosperity. 

26S 



CITY MISSIONS AND SUBURBANITES 

Not alone the old families, but new converts of 
city churches are poured into suburban villages. 
It is a well-known fact that the conversion of the 
poor awakens in them a desire for better things 
of every kind, material and spiritual. Chris- 
tianity prospers them, especially if they are 
young and vigorous. They do well, and soon, 
perhaps before they have formed very strong at- 
tachments, they seek more favorable living con- 
ditions. In this way a vigorous central church, 
which made a remarkable record for accessions, 
in the same year gave letters to about two thirds 
as many people as it received, and the instance 
is not exceptional. Many cases occur in which 
the city church actually loses while its altars are 
being filled with converts. A great deal is said, 
and justly, about the contributions of members 
which country churches are compelled to make 
to the city. This is not true of towns which are 
proximate to metropolitan places : they are debt- 
ors for a great stream of younger and more suc- 
cessful city dwellers which is poured into their 
community life, filling their Christian organiza- 
tions vrith easy gains. Many great pastors, pas- 
torates, and church societies are made in this 
way. 

Their debt to the city is not sufliciently recog- 
nized by dwellers in suburbs. They are able with 
little effort or sacrifice to build ornate churches, 
to pay large ministerial salaries, to support 
costly choirs, and to make respectable contribu- 

269 



THE CHUECH IN THE CITY 

tions to the cause of foreign missions, now made 
popular by the "parish abroad", arrangement. 
All of this would be well if our home mission 
fields, and especially the centers and alien quar- 
ters of our great cities, were not left so largely to 
godlessness, intemperance, licentiousness, and 
crime. 

City missionary work cannot be adequately 
supported on the field. This might have been the 
case had the older properties been endowed, as 
were a few only of the number. If a sufficient 
permanent fund had been secured for even the 
maintenance, renewal, and improvement of the 
physical properties used, many organizations in 
the heart of things might be locally sustained. 
Others of more strictly missionary or foreign 
neighborhoods can never meet their own ex- 
penses, yet are greatly needed. Each denomina- 
tional Board of Home Missions has a tremendous 
and growing responsibility for the evangelization 
and Christian development of the city. This 
frontier, this seat of ignorance and vice, this 
heathen land must be explored, claimed and won 
for God. Little driblets of appropriations will 
not do the work. Wise and strategic investments 
of a size proportionate to the task, and to the 
nature and importance of the municipality, must 
be put into any movement to capture the city 
which is worthy of Christian faith and purpose. 
Those who are thinking in terms of hundreds 
must think in thousands. Those who propose 

270 



CITY MISSIONS AND SUBUKBANITES 

planting thousands in so holy an adventure must 
plan in hundreds of thousands, and even in mil- 
lions. Is this wild speech? All who have strug- 
gled with the problems and oppositions which 
the gospel meets in city life know that the state- 
ment is moderate. 

But general boards, and city societies also, con- 
fess themselves unable to meet the issues of the 
task of city redemption. Their funds, which in 
the aggregate seem large, are in reality very lim- 
ited when the demands are considered. For this 
reason institutionalism, at least on a broad basis, 
as well as adequate charities which could be made 
to serve a double and saving purpose, are practi- 
cally out of the question. Thus an officer of a 
fairly strong organization in one of the principal 
centers is moved to exclaim : "It seems to me that 
the logic of events tv^II prove that it is a mistake 
for the city society to burden itself with any very 
extended humanitarian or institutional work. 
Such work should be cared for and managed by 
a board of its own, making possible, as such an 
arrangement does, the endowment of the work, 
so that its continuance or development would not 
be dependent upon the rather uncertain financial 
career of a city society." To the city missionary 
societies all backward regions, all alien races, 
all weak societies utter raucous cries for help. 
Hundreds of cities contest for small sums whose 
donation is impossible. What is the remedy? 

If churches would do more to help one an- 

271 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

other, a long step forward in the work of making 
Christ the ruler of the city could at once be taken. 
And why should not the strong, rich congregation 
on Lordly Avenue put supporting arms about the 
struggling society on Front Street or on Przemysl 
Square? Why should not aid be extended to 
the weak as a fraternal act, and not as a charity? 
What is needed is not so much missions, in the 
sense of experimental or feeble institutions, as 
churches assisted in getting upon their feet, and 
in doing a worthy and successful work, by the 
cooperation of others. Help should be given to 
the older downtown churches, when they require 
it, as a just recognition of service rendered, and 
newer settlements should be fostered because of 
their purpose and of the future contributions 
which they are certain to make to the welfare of 
society. 

It is an individual obligation which those who 
go down to do business in the city owe to its 
moral life. This sentence approves itself to my 
judgment, "The city work can never be ade- 
quately financed until the suburbanite assumes 
his responsibility for city missions.'' What right 
have the town's best money-makers to take their 
wealth away with them, and wrap themselves 
and their families up in it, while the dense popu- 
lations whose pressure they have escaped go un- 
churched and unsaved? I suggest an associate or 
fraternal membership in needy city churches to 
be assumed by suburbanites as a matter of grati- 

272 



CITY MISSIONS AND SUBURBANITES 

tude for benefits whicli they have received from 
such a church, and for the good which in many 
ways they obtain even through their business be- 
cause Christianity leavens the town. Another 
worthy motive for such a relationship, to be made 
in part both active and sustaining, is the desire 
to help in civic betterment. Christ is the city's 
Redeemer ! Christianity is fundamental to civil- 
ization and to righteousness. If the follower of 
Christ believes this, let him not withdraw him- 
self into the congenial fellowship and mutual 
worship of his own kind, but let him ally himself 
with the forces which are working in hard places, 
and which are inspired by the vision of a City of 
God which they hope to make real. 

The buried talents of suburbanite Christians 
may be restored to civic usefulness if the effort is 
made. Pastors and city missionary societies will 
have little difficulty in persuading reasonable 
men of Christian character that in addition to 
the responsibilities of their home churches they 
may also become contributing members and 
advisers of churches in town. When members 
of central societies move to the rim of the city, 
or beyond it, let it be considered the rule for 
them to preserve an attachment of some definite 
and helpful nature with the old organization. 
If needed they should also serve on boards and 
committees which have midday meetings. In this 
way the terrible losses of city churches may be 
escaped in part, and men of means and of intel- 

273 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

lectual might may be made a permanent asset to 
the religious life of the metropolis. 

The one thing that stands in the way of sub- 
urbanite interest and cooperation in the effort 
to Christianize the city is selfishness. It is not 
likely that many pastors of near-metropolitan 
parishes would discourage leading members from 
assuming personal and financial obligations in 
the big town. A few may be narrow enough to 
be jealous of any division of allegiance and of 
support. The real difficulty is to get the country 
dweller to feel the seriousness of existing condi- 
tions, and the responsibility Avhich modern rela- 
tionships place upon persons of power who live 
just beyond the city limits. Moreover, to make 
an effective plan for the utilization of suburban- 
ite strength, and to get those who are satisfied 
with their comfortable homes and churches to co- 
operate actively in any such scheme, is work for 
a genius and an executive of the highest order. 

I am now about to preach a hard doctrine. 
Ministers of the gospel possessed of private 
means ought in many cases to accept hard central 
and semicentral city fields, or work located in 
alien settlements, without reference to financial 
compensation for such services, and substantial 
laymen whose freedom from family complications 
permits this to be done safely may fittingly regard 
it as a divine vocation to live near and to put 
their lives into churches which are vital to the 
health of the town. Why move away from the 

274 



CITY MISSIONS AND SUBURBANITES 

place where of all on earth one can do most good? 
Why not deliberately move into the neighborhood 
of a struggling Christian undertaking which only 
needs a few families of ability and of means to 
make it an important success? Or why not, O 
pastor to the cultivated, Christianized, well- 
bedded suburb, if God has blessed you Tsi-th a 
competency, go back to the hot streets and strug- 
gling peoples of the city, and spend the years of 
your strength where your personality is most 
needed? 

I said, "Let me walk in the fields." 

He said, "No; walk in the town." 
I said, "There are no flowers there." 

He said, "No flowers, but a crown." 

I said, "But the skies are black; 

There is nothing but noise and din." 
And He wept as He sent me back — 

"There is more," He said; "there is sin." 

I said, "I shall miss the light; 

And friends will miss me, they say." 
He answered, "Choose to-night 

If I am to miss you, or they." 

I pleaded for time to be given. 

He said: "Is it hard to decide? 
It will not be hard in heaven 

To have followed the steps of your Guide." 

Then into His hand went mine; 

And into my heart came He; 
And I walk in a light divine 

The path I had feared to see. 
275 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

We are living in an age when some have caught 
the vision of a New City to be. established in 
wastes and marshes made by sin. But the foun- 
dations of new and beautiful cities are not laid 
without sacrifice, without labor, pain, and death. 
Where the Neva pours its waters into the Gulf 
of Finland, Peter the Great desired to build a 
window through which he might look out upon 
civilized Europe. Upon a wretched swamp, half 
submerged in the waves of stream and gulf, and 
which possessed no stones, clay, wood, or build- 
ing material of any kind, a mighty capital was 
to be reared. The few struggling denizens of 
the place had little faith in the success of such 
an effort. They pointed to an old tree, on which 
a mark indicated how alarmingly and danger- 
ously high the waters sometimes were lifted. The 
reply of Peter was an order to cut the tree down. 
The suburbanites were brought in. Russians, 
Tartars, Cossacks, Finns were imported for the 
task, and were put to work, with tools if they had 
them, otherwise with their hands. Actually, the 
soil was sometimes dug with sticks, or bare- 
handed, and caps and aprons carried away the 
earth. Thirty thousand houses were built in one 
year. Beneath them lay the bones of nearly one 
hundred thousand toilers who from hunger and 
exposure were stricken during the first twelve 
months of labor. "One must break eggs to make 
an omelet," said the monarch who sought a 
strategic and satisfactory city. When the 

276 



CITY MISSIONS AND SUBURBANITES 

foundations had been laid, merchants and arti- 
sans and wealthy families were summoned to 
dwell in this place, summer and winter, and to 
make it great. Every boat that entered the 
harbor had to bring in a quantity of unhewn 
stones, every man that could help was required 
to put himself and his best gifts at the disposal 
of the kingdom. Thus arose splendid Petrograd, 
to become the seat of one of the most powerful 
empires of the earth. 

What the Czar of the Russias did by cruel, 
unrelenting force the King of heaven and of earth 
would do by love. A far nobler task he sets 
before the minds of His subjects and followers. 
He will cause to rise above the waves of want 
and sorrow, of sin and shame, of distress and 
crime, capitals and centers of justice, of right- 
eousness, of comfort, and of intellectual and 
spiritual splendor. The work has begun, and 
substantial progress has been made, but not with- 
out struggles and losses. The pure, strong. Chris- 
tian city has already claimed its victims. Not a 
few have given their very lives to the task set 
before them. Others are toiling with empty hands, 
and with the crudest and scarcest of materials. 
Stone, brick, cement, wood, iron are badly 
needed, but, after all, cities are not built of these 
things, but of men, of genius, and of character. 
The need is help in flesh and blood, in brain and 
muscle, in thought and feeling, as well as in gold. 
Bring up the reserves ! Pour back into the city 

277 



THE CHUECH IN TfiE CITY 

the life fluids, the human goodness, and the vari- 
ous treasures of skill and of coin which have been 
drawn out of it. Put into new places of power 
and of vantage the strength of Christ's kingdom. 
Then will arise a window from which the Lord 
of Life may look out upon future civilizations 
whose development, as he watches, his City will 
inspire and control in harmony with ideals that 
are pure and true. 



278 



CHAPTEE XIV 

THE CITY KEDEEMED 

The origin of cities is lost in the buried records 
of antiquity. Beneath the remains of one ruined 
city the spade of the archaeologist has often dis- 
covered the relics of another older center of popu- 
lation possessed of many institutions and treas- 
ures which fond ignorance supposed modern. 
The mild climates of the East gave first oppor- 
tunity for city growth. Along the valleys of the 
Euphrates and the Tigris, beside the sacred Nile 
and the rivers of India, on Peruvian and Mexican 
plains were primitive settlements into whose his- 
tory we cannot go. Among existing cities of 
Europe, Athens is the earliest foundation, and 
is at least four fifths of a thousand years older 
than ^^the Eternal City,'' although London and 
Paris were but mud huts, occupied by rude and 
uncivilized aborigines, when, seven hundred 
years after her own planting, Rome sent the 
legions of Csesar to subdue the peoples of Britain 
and Gaul. Jerusalem, which was a Jebusite city 
in the days of Abraham, claims a lifetime a thou- 
sand years or so longer than that of Peking, and 
four or five centuries in advance of that of the 
city of Pericles. Back of the beginnings of 
David's capital, however, stretch several other 

279 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

long centuries to the date which, if it were known, 
would mark the origin of Damascus, most ancient 
of all living cities. Whatever may be thought 
of the tradition that the metropolis of Syria was 
founded by a great-grandson of Noah, it seems 
assured that it has persisted throughout the 
space of some forty-two hundred years. 

During the course of history the status of 
cities has several times altered. In the beginning 
they were probably mere aggregations of individ- 
uals with few civic institutions, at first patriar- 
chal in government, but later ruled by a despot 
or by a priestly or lordly oligarchy. To Greece 
is attributed the early development of a corporate 
unity, which attained democratic relationships 
and privileges. Throughout Europe the term 
"city'' came to have two meanings — one civil, the 
other ecclesiastical. The civil city, as distin- 
guished from a town, was an independent com- 
munity possessing sovereign authority, and in- 
cluding parts of surrounding territory whose 
inhabitants possessed the rights of citizenship. 
As a body supreme and self-governing, the city 
made treaties, waged war, dominated surround- 
ing country, and conducted multiplied activities, 
including those of religion, of art, of pleasure, 
and of instruction, as well as those of agricul- 
ture, mining, industry, and commerce. The 
glory of such a city was the intelligence and 
prosperity of its free men : its sin and ultimate 
downfall was slavery. Athens, for example, at 

280 



THE CITY KEDEEMED 

one time numbered seven times as many slaves as 
male citizens. The ecclesiastical sense of the 
term "city" implied a town which was the see of 
a bishop, which significance still has a belated 
importance in England, where, as is now almost 
universally the case, the modern notion has 
come to be merely that of a town which by growth 
of population has become a leading place in the 
community in which it exists. 

In the end the wickedness of the early Roman 
city, and especially the oppression at its heart, 
cost it sovereignty, and in the first period of the 
Middle Ages the towns were overwhelmed by 
feudal lords and by robber knights. But in 
South France and along the Adriatic coast, on 
the Rhine and beside the Northern seas feudalism 
was held at bay by individual communities, and 
later by leagues of cities. The civic republics of 
Italy, the Flemish and English cities, and the 
Hanseatic League, despite their internal weak- 
nesses and corruptions, and their bloody strifes, 
tended to develop the rule of the trader rather 
than that of the war lord or the aristocrat. Their 
wealth and power increased, and as they became 
sensible of the need they improved their legal 
systems and their political administrations. The 
guilds which they created became in time their 
masters, and at length the rise of national 
governments took away the independence of 
cities, which became merged in the larger groups 
of the various states, in whose legislative bodies 

281 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

they were represented, and in which they natu- 
rally exerted a profound influence. The modern 
city is in some respects a return to the Roman 
idea. It is a creature of the state, and has no 
sovereign and little corporate power, except as 
the same is granted by the legislatures of com- 
monwealths and of the nation. But, of course, 
the large masses of the central places have 
immense weight in shaping public thought and 
in determining the conduct of rulers. 

The growth of modern cities is nothing short 
of marvelous. The phenomenon is not confined 
to one country, but is general, the most remark- 
able increases before the European war being in 
Germany. In France the centralization of popu- 
lation has been a constantly increasing expe- 
rience. Between 1850 and 1914 the population of 
Paris grew from slightly over one million to 
2,888,110. A quarter of a century ago Mistral 
complained that "all the intelligence of the 
country gathers in Paris, without returning to 
the provinces.'' In Holland and the United 
Kingdom the change from rural to urban popula- 
tions has been revolutionary. That the tendency 
is still manifest is seen in the single fact that 
London entire, including the metropolitan and 
city police districts grew in the twenty years — 
from 1891 to 1911— from 5,633,806 to 7,252,963 
inhabitants. During thirty years of the latter 
part of the nineteenth century Rome and Milan 
doubled their size, and the other chief Italian 

282 



THE CITY REDEEMED 

cities increased from fifty to seventy per cent 
each. In Canada thirty-four principal towns 
grew from a total population for 1901 of 1,063,- 
521 to 1,918,443, reported in 1911. This increase 
represents a gain of forty-four and one half per 
cent in a single decade, and is disproportional 
with the statistics for the country. When the 
census of 1790 was taken, the United States of 
America had but thirteen cities of over 5,000 
inhabitants and none of more than 40,000. To- 
day there are more than sixty places having over 
100,000 residents each. 

It is a significant fact that of the ten largest 
cities in the United States, but four — New York, 
Philadelphia, Baltimore and New Orleans — were 
municipalities in 1820. At this moment our total 
urban population is more than five times as great 
as the total of all inhabitants in city and country 
in 1810. The ascending ratio of town residence 
as compared with country dwelling runs this 
way. In 1790 the percentage of people in places 
of 8,000 or more inhabitants was three and a 
third. In 1830 the figure is six and seven tenths 
per cent; 1850, twelve and a half; 1870, twenty 
and nine tenths; 1890, twenty-nine and twelve 
one hundredths; in 1910, thirty-eight and eight 
tenths per cent. The proportion appears more 
striking when it is seen that while a hundred 
years ago barely one in thirty persons in our 
land could be called a city dweller, now more 
than one in three are listed in this class, and 

283 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

there is a strong movement toward the largest 
cities. In 1880 but one and nine tenths per cent 
of the people were in places containing from fifty 
to one hundred thousand inhabitants: in 1910 
the proportion in towns of this particular grade 
had become four and one half per cent. In 1880 
our one city of over a million population com- 
prised within its borders two and four tenths per 
cent of Americans, but at the present time we 
have three metropolitan centers containing from 
one and three quarters to nearly six millions of 
people each, or a total equal to more than ten per 
cent of the entire citizenship of the country. 
What is to be the end of this growth who can 
foresee? One thing is certain, namely, that be- 
cause of their centralization of the masses and 
of a great proportion of leading minds cities are 
bound to exert a dominant influence upon the 
thought and character of the nation. 

Every "good strategist must see," said the ob- 
server in a metropolitan Tower Eyrie, "that the 
city is the vantage ground for attacking the 
foreign problem. New York city is the best place 
in America, and, indeed, the best spot on earth, 
from which to evangelize Europe.'' Would that 
the great Missionary Boards located in that city 
of aliens fully comprehended the truth of this 
saying. The Christian City, a publication of the 
New York City Society of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, very properly published the article 
containing the above statement, and the further 

284 



THE CITY KEDEEMED 

important sentences: "The foreign problem is 
largely a city problem. A study of the foreign- 
born population of the United States shows that 
the cities of all sections have a higher percentage 
of foreign-born than the States in which they are 
located — that the foreign-born are largely aggre- 
gated in cities ; for example : forty-three per cent 
of the foreign-born of Kentucky is in Louisville, 
seventy-four per cent of the foreign-born of Mary- 
land is in Baltimore, forty-two per cent of the 
foreign-born of Oregon is in Portland, sixty-four 
per cent of the foreign-born of IlUnois is in 
Chicago, seventy-eight per cent of the foreign- 
born of Delaware is in Wilmington, seventy 
per cent of the foreign-born of New York is in 
New York city. All this is preeminently true of 
New York city, for it is the neck of the bottle 
through which the alien passes. More than twice 
as many people of foreign birth settled in this 
one city from 1900-1910 as in all the States West 
of the Mississippi, save Washington and Cali- 
fornia." 

Very much has been said and written concern- 
ing the effects of urban life upon human char- 
acter and progress. Facts which have been cited 
in the preceding chapters, and other equally 
indubitable matters, have often given rise to pes- 
simism. Thus Canon Henson characterized city 
life as made up in good part of frivolity, cynical 
skepticism, and sensuality, and Bruyere ex- 
claimed : '^If you suppress the exorbitant love of 

285 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

pleasure and money, idle curiosity, iniquitous 
purpose, and wanton mirth, what a stillness 
would there be in the greatest cities !" Bunyan, 
in his immortal allegory, characterized the world 
as the City of Destruction. Not love of nature 
only, but also knowledge of the labor and misery 
of the town, the suffering of the poor, the com- 
monness and sordidness of middle-class expe- 
riences, and the bestiality of the demi-monde has 
often inspired such an attitude as that expressed 
in the words of Byron : 

Higli«inountains are a feeling, but the hum 
Of human cities torture. 

That there is another side to the case against 
the city is apparent to all who recall the fact that 
the ancient municipalities were the centers of 
art and of literature, that the first Christians 
were urban brotherhoods, and that it is where 
populations are massed that democracy arises, 
social order with liberty is maintained, and the 
institutions of education and philanthropy are 
organized and developed. As to the power for 
good or for evil which inheres in centers of popu- 
lation, much may be said in defense of McPher- 
son's claim that "The city has always been the 
decisive battleground of civilization and religion. 
It intensifies all the natural tendencies of man. 
From its fomented energies, as well as from its 
greater weight of numbers, the city controls. 
Ancient civilizations rose and fell with their lead- 

286 



THE CITY REDEEMED 

ing cities. In modern times it is not too mucli to 
say, ^As goes the city, so goes the world.' '' It 
is a well-known fact that not only the develop- 
ment of democracy during the Middle Ages, but 
the Reformation and the Renaissance were 
largely products of the cities. Thomas Guthrie 
fell in love with the town. "I bless God for 
cities," he declared. "They have been a lamp of 
life along the pathways of humanity and reli- 
gion. Within them science has given birth to her 
noblest discoveries. Behind their walls freedom 
has fought her noblest battles. They have stood 
on the surface of the earth like great break- 
waters, rolling back and turning aside the swell- 
ing tide of oppression. Cities, indeed, have been 
the cradles of human liberty. They have been 
the active sentries of almost all church and state 
reformation. '' If in this discussion the whole 
truth is, as usual, neither with accusant nor with 
panegyrist, it is indisputable that with its dual 
nature, its contradictory and warring members, 
and its Jekyll-and-Hyde conduct the city is on 
our hands as a vast and increasing problem of 
management and of redemption. 

The charge of Mr. Bryce in his American 
Commonwealth that "the government of cities is 
the one conspicuous failure of the United States,'' 
is only relatively important, for other nations 
and times present the picture of but partial suc- 
cesses in this field of effort. Corruption for the 
sake of financial profit, for example, is perhaps 

287 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

the harder to eradicate because it has been so 
long known. It is said that in ancient days the 
City of the Seven Hills had its architects and 
artificers who furnished bad materials for big 
money. Against the evils of graft and intrenched 
municipal vices mighty uprisings of the people 
occurred, and then, like modern reformatory 
movements, subsided. After one such virtuous 
spasm an incident took place which has left its 
seal upon the language of succeeding ages. The 
contractors had put into costly public buildings 
cracked marble columns, the openings being filled 
with skillfully tinted wax. Shortly, the elements 
dissolved the wax, and the gaping crevices and 
arrant deceit became known. After the sham 
columns had been pulled down, and the guilty 
punished, and this was probably done vigorously 
if not barbarously, contracts made in Eome were 
obliged to contain the phrase ^^sine cera/^ with- 
out wax, whence comes the term which all de- 
voutly wish should represent dealings with them- 
selves — sincere, without fraud or false pretenses. 
To this ideal, however, it would be useless to 
claim that American city governments have as 
yet fully attained. 

The greatest need of the city is a powerful and 
effective religion, one that will lay hold of its 
masses and its problems, and master them for 
good. Hence the place and function of the Chris- 
tian Church. The Church is not incidental to 
city life, but it is necessary to its highest welfare, 

288 



THE CITY KEDEEMED 

representing indeed, though doubtless in a more 
modern and all-inclusive sense, that Civitas Dei 
of which Saint Augustine so ably and charm- 
ingly wrote, as the ^'pilgrim city of the King 
Christ." Municipal Leagues, reform bureaus, 
housing associations, and similar societies which 
seek to improve political and physical conditions 
among town-dwellers, draw inspiration from 
centers of religious intelligence and righteous- 
ness. They depend upon Christian leaders and 
forces to publish and indorse their principles and 
to furnish their undertakings cooperation with 
men, means, and sentiment. The Church is the 
conscience of the city, its soul, which is moral 
concern quickened by human love and conse- 
crated to a ministry of redemption by the Spirit 
of God. Take the Church out of the city, and it 
would soon become a putrid corpse. 

The modern city is redeemable, and its con- 
quest for health, for purity, for intelligence and 
for obedience to human and divine law is the 
chief Christian business. The Church must go 
into politics, not meanly, or in a partisan way, 
but for the common weal, as a supporter of good 
officials and administrations, and as a terror to 
evildoers. The Church must demand cleanliness. 
It is said that in the mediaeval city there was 
often infection in the wells, and frequent 
"plagues'' swept the unclean centers, but "the 
science of sanitation being undiscovered, these 
things were accepted piously as inscrutable visi- 

289 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

tations of God." "The times of ignorance God 
overlooked; but now he commandeth men that 
thej should all everywhere repentl" Our follies 
and their consequences in disease and sufferings 
are to be attributed to sin and not to God, and 
Christianity must give much care to teaching the 
arts of wholesome living, and to healing. The 
work of public commissions, of health ofl&cers, 
physicians, and nurses, and the encouragement of 
hospitals are matters of no indifference to the 
city church, but in order that these and all other 
needed physical undertakings may be promoted 
and brought to efficiency the main effort of the 
Church must be ethical and spiritual. Without 
morality and divine purpose rulers are a menace, 
and physicians and hospitals become panderers 
to vice. An irreligious civilization is its own 
worst enemy. A social order unchristianized is 
attended with injustice and licentiousness, and is 
prey to epidemics of foul diseases and crimes. 
Without a doubt the more modern and partly 
Christian cities of the West are as a class cleaner 
and more healthful and virtuous, and their in- 
habitants generally are more prosperous than has 
ever been the case with large numbers of towns 
in any other part of the world or period of time ; 
but the end of desire and of need is not attained. 
Painful effects of intemperance, lust, selfishness, 
and corruption are still seen, and the remedy is 
Christian instruction, example, labor, and power. 
It is a mixed condition of opposing institutions 

290 



THE CITY REDEEMED 

and forces which city life presents. The familiar 
four corners of Toronto, Canada, on which for 
years typical buildings were said to represent 
education, legislation, salvation, and damnation, 
were only exceptional in the closer juxtaposition 
than usual of school, political center, church, and 
rumshop. A similar complication of mutually 
antagonistic principles produces in most cities 
opposing centers which are not far removed from 
one another and which struggle to control the 
ground. It seems at times as if the forces of evil 
were almost invincible. "Mne tenths of Christian 
effort,'^ exclaimed a metropolitan preacher, "is 
neutralized by the saloon." Educators, the better 
class of civic administrators, and managers of 
business enterprises of a legitimate and useful 
nature, make bitter complaints of conditions 
which they meet in the social and political life 
of the town. The Church does not create these 
evils and difficulties : no one so charges. They 
are at most, so far as the responsibility of the 
Church is concerned, the result of its weakness 
and lack of aggressiveness. An increasing de- 
mand is laid upon Christianity by public senti- 
ment, to the effect that it take hold of existing 
wrongs and seek their correction, or the elimina- 
tion of their causes, not alone by instruction but 
by the use of its undoubted power in combination 
with all forces of civic righteousness. 

The great branches of the Christian family 
are not represented in the leading cities of the 

291 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

United States by equal proportions of their mem- 
bership. In cities of twenty-five thousand per- 
sons or more fifty-three per cent of the Roman 
Catholics of the nation are located. The Protes- 
tant Episcopal Church has fifty-one per cent of 
its people in these cities ; the Unitarian Church, 
forty-seven per cent; German Evangelical, forty- 
two per cent ; Congregational Church, thirty-two ; 
Reformed Churches, thirty-one; Presbyterian, 
twenty-eight; Lutheran, twenty-five; Methodist, 
fifteen ; Baptist, thirteen ; Friends and Disciples, 
twelve each. The record of actual numbers in 
each case is, of course, very different. Such large 
churches as the Methodist and Baptist, for ex- 
ample, while the bulk of their following is in the 
smaller towns and in the country, have a vastly 
greater big city membership than do small 
denominations which stand high up in the above 
list of figures. It is, however, a matter for grave 
concern on the part of some leading Churches 
whether their methods in handling city problems, 
including matters of property, endowment, adap- 
tation to environment and the like, have not pre- 
vented greater growth of members and of power 
in metropolitan places. 

As to actual leadership in various cities, sta- 
tistics show that in twenty-three out of thirty- 
eight greatest cities of the United States Roman 
Catholics exceed in numbers the total Protestant 
memberships, the reverse being the case in thir- 
teen cities. When it is remembered that Roman- 

292 



THE CITY REDEEMED 

ism recruits almost wholly by immigration, and 
that the cities are the dwelling places of the great 
bulk of alien populations, the above facts are 
better understood. Another factor which enters 
into this account is the well-known reckoning of 
entire Catholic families in the statistics of their 
churches, Protestants numbering only actual 
voluntary communicants. It is interesting to 
note that of the Protestant denominations Meth- 
odism has the lead in its census in Baltimore, 
Cincinnati, Denver, Indianapolis, Kansas City, 
and Saint Louis, and has second Protestant place 
in Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Louisville, Mil- 
waukee, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, 
Newark, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Saint Paul, 
San Francisco, and Washington. The Lutherans 
are the most numerous Protestant body in Chi- 
cago, Cleveland, Detroit, Jersey City, Milwaukee, 
Minneapolis and Saint Paul, and are second in 
Buffalo and Saint Louis. Baptist memberships 
lead in Louisville, New Orleans, Providence, and 
Washington, and are second in Baltimore, 
Boston, Indianapolis, and Kansas City. The 
Protestant Episcopal Church heads the list in 
New York, and is second in Jersey City and 
Providence. Presbyterians have the largest Prot- 
estant communion in Newark, Philadelphia, 
Pittsburgh, and San Francisco, and the second 
in size in Cincinnati and Denver. The thirteen 
cities in which Protestantism is superior in num- 
bers to Romanism are Baltimore, Cleveland; 

293 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

Columbus, Denver, Indianapolis, Kansas City, 
Memphis, Minneapolis, Omaha, Philadelphia, 
Rochester, Toledo, Washington. 

The larger the number of cities included 
in such a statement as the above the better 
the relative position which must be given to 
the Protestant churches, which during years of 
more restricted immigration make large pro- 
portionate gains throughout the country. Of 
course responsibility for city life and for its 
institutions increases with the strength of the 
churches as a whole, and of each particular 
denomination. Enumeration of church com- 
municants in one hundred and sixty cities of 
twenty-five thousand population and over shows 
a percentage of forty-six and nine tenths per 
cent of all the people, which is seven and eight 
tenths above the percentage of church member- 
ship in the United States as a whole. In ten 
years city church memberships increased ninety 
per one thousand of the population, while the 
gain throughout the entire country was fifty-one 
per one thousand. 

The modern divorce between Church and state 
has not been an unmixed blessing in its effect 
upon municipal life. The mediaeval Church 
conducted charities the responsibility for which 
when thrown upon city governments they were 
not prepared to accept. To this day necessary 
public services are often left to a fitful or even 
eccentric private philanthropy. It is the duty of 

294 



THE CITY KEDEEMED 

the Church not to assume public functions of a 
useful nature unless forced to do so by neglect 
or refusal of constituted authorities to meet the 
needs of the people, but to agitate, educate, and, 
if necessary, to illustrate work which ought to 
be accomplished. An attempt on the part of the 
Church to cling to survivals of public service 
which conditions once required it to assume may 
be to weaken itself for the discharge of present 
duties, and any thought of assuming the general 
educational, eleemosynary, or more essentially 
political responsibilities of the city is prepos- 
terous, as tending toward materialism, and as 
being certain to break the strength of religious 
organizations. The Church, like its great Master, 
must be servant of all, but its best service is that 
of enlightenment, suggestion, inspiration, encour- 
agement, fellowship, and social intercourse. All 
else should be strictly works of necessity — 
instant mercy, first aid to the injured, symbolical 
and representative acts of human sympathy and 
love. This is a high office, with a wide sphere of 
conservative and redemptive action. History 
shows that Thomson's dark picture of the City 
of Dreadful Night, however extravagant as a 
description of human existence, is none too pes- 
simistic and black to serve as a portrait of life 
in the cities of the world's history which were 
untouched by the spirit of a holy religion. Even 
now it is doubtful whether civilization, despite 
its proved and surpassing values, would outlive 

295 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

the briefest space if its walls should cease to be 
supported by Christian faith. 

The perfect city is one of the most important 
and necessary objects of Christian aspiration, but 
this concept needs to be clearly visualized. The 
Calabrian monk Campanella, in his ideal City of 
the Sun, pictured a community in which the in- 
habitants individually seek the perfecting of body 
and soul, and collectively labor for the good of 
all. The worship of God and the care of young 
children are each person's duty. The ablest and 
wisest become the administrators of city govern- 
ment. The essences of life are equality, self- 
sacrifice in the interest of the community, and 
the conquest of egotism. Power, Wisdom, and 
Love order all the life of the city. It is interest- 
ing to note that this romance of the early seven- 
teenth century represents the law of eugenics as 
being applied to the production of offspring. The 
virtues of the inhabitants are magnanimity, forti- 
tude, chastity, liberality, justice, comfort, truth, 
kindness, gratitude, cheerfulness, exercise, so- 
briety. "Both sexes are instructed in all the arts 
together." "They consider him the more noble 
and renowned who has dedicated himself to the 
study of the most arts, and knows how to prac- 
tice them wisely. Wherefore they laugh at us 
in that we consider our workmen ignoble." "The 
rich and the poor together make up the com- 
munity. They are rich because they want 
nothing, poor because they possess nothing, and 

290 



THE CITY REDEEMED 

consequently they are not slaves to circum- 
stances, but circumstances serve them. And on 
this point they strongly recommend the religion 
of the Christians, and especially the life of the 
apostles." The mind of the Dominican is seen in 
the compact organization of the Civitas Solis^ in 
its rigorous discipline and in its prescribed 
labors. The Utopian image which Campanella 
sets before the mind is marred by communism, 
including that of wives as well as of goods, by 
defense of war against religious and other en- 
emies, and by ecclesiastical ceremonialism, but 
it breathes love for the beautiful, for wisdom, 
and for kindliness, and teaches the lesson of the 
perfect city. 

Others have attempted with varying degrees of 
skill and success to limn the image of civic good- 
ness and glory, but, however sublime the revela- 
tion, it should be remembered that it is not within 
the possibilities to make offhand a new and ideal 
city. The affair is one of restoration, of redemp- 
tion. Whence shall come the City Redeemed? 
I repeat — the Church will have to do this work. 
Government will not do it, nor commerce, nor 
science. Philosophy will dream it: poetry will 
depict it: love alone can bring it to pass. The 
labor is not of an hour, but of long, slowly pass- 
ing years, perchance of centuries. It is toil worth 
doing, because each day may mark some slight 
improvement, each season draw on the time when 
no longer it shall be said, 

297 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

Thy voice is a complaint, O crowned city, 

The blue sky covering thee, like God's great pity. 

It is my own conviction that the salvation of 
society is a work which lies upon the threshold 
of the old Church — the old orthodox Church, if 
this must be said, and if it may be understood in 
a sane and Christian manner — and not in any 
artificial church created out of hand as a civic 
redeemer. The preachments of reasonable social 
masters like Professors Rauschenbusch and Pea- 
body have received a hearing on the part of Chris- 
tendom so sympathetic and encouraging as to 
arouse the expectation that the ideals of prim- 
itive Christianity will soon renew their hold upon 
the Church, which is now established, not by fiat 
of the state, but by the adherence and allegiance 
of millions of conscientious and devout persons. 
The succeeding generation of apostles of social 
righteousness, in inaugurating quickening cam- 
paigns within the memberships of religious 
bodies, have also met with much respect and sup- 
port, Stelzle, Ward, Lovejoy, and others. There 
appears no need, therefore, to seek to form a Civic 
Church after such a model as that proposed by 
the late Mr. W. T. Stead, although his presenta- 
tions and outline of services to be rendered by 
such an organization should be vastly informing 
and suggestive to the student of church activities. 
The thought of the distinguished publicist and 
reformer was the association and cooperation of 

298 



THE CITY REDEEMED 

all philanthropic workers in every community, 
an idea which was either too inclusive, or which 
ignored the smaller but more necessary acts of 
good will and of mutual helpfulness which make 
up by far the greater bulk of services rendered to 
humanity and to good causes. "The great want 
of the age,'' said the inventor of the Civic Church, 
"is a church — a church which will not be a mere 
sect, but a real church, a working church, a 
church coextensive with the community in which 
it exists ; a church which, like the old Church, has 
the power of excommunication, and exercises it; 
a church which embraces the whole range of hu- 
man life, and which influences all the affairs of 
life, alike in personal conduct, and in affairs of 
municipal and national government. Until we 
can constitute a church which will somehow or 
other do the things which the old Church used 
to do, and which the modern Church largely 
shirks doing, we shall never get the key of the 
social problem.'' The Civic Church was to be a 
fellowship of intellects and of fraternal spirits 
bent on making men and things better. No one 
was to be excluded from membership on the 
ground of credal or philosophical views, however 
variant from those of their comrades. The 
example and teaching of Jesus Christ were to be 
authoritative, and there was to be no necessary 
antagonism of present churches. The relation 
to them of the new church would be that which 
"the main drain of a city bears to washbasins of 

299 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

private houses.'' Every member would be ex- 
pected to be useful to the community, and to 
assist in movements for the benefit of all. The 
whole life of man as touching that of his brother 
would be taken into the account. Representa- 
tives and delegates of all the churches would be 
comprised in the organization, and the Civic 
Church would keep all moral forces in touch with 
each other, and would both unify and energize 
them. This church is described as an electoral 
center, a moral caucus seeking to place con- 
science at the head of the municipality, as a spir- 
itual counterpart of the town council, to be estab- 
lished in cities universally on the principle, ^^One 
town, one Church.'' The effect of such an insti- 
tution was to be the reconstitution of society on 
the basis of brotherhood and mutual service. 

So much in Mr. Stead's Civic Church idea is 
of value that it seems unfortunate that the prop- 
osition was not for a clearing house of the 
churches, rather than for the formation of a new 
church, without theological foundations, and 
therefore possessing no sacraments, and unable 
to command the necessary assensus and con- 
sensus of the Christian public. It is a matter 
for exceeding regret that the attention of Fed- 
erations of Churches, which, as a rule, were 
started with the idea of cooperation for civic 
betterment and for social reform, has been so 
largely diverted into an attack upon denomina- 
tionalism, however extreme some of the mani- 

300 



THE CITY REDEEMED 

festations of tlie divisional propensity of Chris- 
tian people may seem to be, and into an effort on 
the part of the churches to prevent each other's 
extension into fields of opportunity, and even of 
need. The formation of religious trusts, seeking 
to stifle competition in the interests of the exist- 
ing and more powerful religious bodies, is as 
dangerous a conception as Christianity, v^^hose 
very life depends upon freedom and unrestricted 
growth, and even upon the reasonable and whole- 
some oppositions of ideas and methods, could pos- 
sibly be called upon to meet. On the other hand, 
great profit would certainly result from a correla- 
tion and combination of Christian intelligences 
and organizations to perform those duties to 
society and to individuals upon which they could 
generally agree and effectively center their 
forces. The only practical outcome of the Stead 
proposal, aside from its suggestiveness to insti- 
tutional church leaders and to social reformers, 
is to be discovered in its influence upon the Eng- 
lish Labor Church movement, originated in Man- 
chester in 1891 by John Trevor, and introduced 
in New England in 1894. Mr. Trevor's explana- 
tion is : ^The Labor Church originated in the con- 
viction that the labor movement, far from being 
the mischievous and godless thing it was com- 
monly supposed to be, was really the most ad- 
vanced point at which the divine energy was 
operating in the higher evolution of man. Be- 
hind this conviction lay another, which preceded 

301 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

it and made it possible, namely, that God was 
not to be found in the traditions of the historic 
churches, but in the individual soul and in the 
progressive development of life in our own 
time. And the relation of the historic churches 
to the Labor Church, as I understand it, is 
this: that the former indicate where God has 
been in past ages, while the latter attempts to 
indicate where God is to be found to-day; and 
that, therefore, the former seek to bring the 
labor movement round to their religion (so far 
as they have any real interest in it), while the 
latter attempts to develop into self-conscious- 
ness the religion already present in the labor 
movement itself." The Labor Church was very 
naturally undertaken as a city institution, and 
the principles first adopted are an interesting ex- 
pression of the ineradicable religiousness of the 
thoughtful conscientious mind, even in a dis- 
tinctively materialistic and class environment. 
It was affirmed " ( 1 ) That the labor movement is 
a religious movement; (2) that the religion of 
the labor movement is not a class religion, but 
unites members of all classes in working for the 
abolition of commercial slavery; (3) that the 
religion of the labor movement is not sectarian 
or dogmatic, but free religion, leaving each man 
free to develop his own relations with the power 
that brought him into being ; ( 4 ) that the eman- 
cipation of labor can only be realized, so far 
as men learn both the economic and moral laws 

302 



THE CITY REDEEMED 

of God, and heartily endeavor to obey them; (5) 
that the development of personal character and 
the improvement of social conditions are both 
essential to man's emancipation from moral and 
social bondage." Most of these statements all 
churches would heartily indorse. The weakness 
of the plan was its lack of the very Christian 
doctrine so lightly regarded by its advocates, and 
of some form of sufficiently true and powerful 
order and discipline. The movement spread to 
various centers, including some in America, but 
the author of the Labor Church invention soon 
found it necessary to form a union of the soci- 
eties with a constitution made necessary by "the 
development of difficulties which could only be 
satisfactorily dealt with by a properly consti- 
tuted authority." In some cases he found the 
Labor Church becoming "little more than the 
Sunday meeting of the local branch of the Labor 
Party, conducted on Labor Church lines, often 
with the prayer omitted." "The difficulty of the 
Labor Church," he says, "is the difficulty that 
lies in the way of all progress — that men and 
movements can seldom work out two ideas at the 
same time." "We are attempting to transplant 
religion to a richer and more fruitful soil, but 
it withers somewhat in the process." So do 
most of the attempts to found new religions 
wither and die. There is doubtless room for 
new churches, and as long as life is careless of 
old forms, impatient of restraints, and protean 

303 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

in its manifestations, we may expect frequent 
branches, if not originations, of religious bodies. 
Those only will persist to do a wide and fruitful 
work which are based upon strong and irrefrag- 
ible foundations of Christian faith and practice. 

The Christian churches, some day working to- 
gether, let us hope, in a closer and more deter- 
mined coalition of forces, are the Church by 
which the city shall be redeemed. Sin is not in- 
vincible, either in urban or in rural districts. It 
is conquerable by faith, by consecration of means, 
of talents and of determined efforts, and by obe- 
dience to the laws and leadership of the "Strong 
Son of God, Immortal Love.'' I am tempted to 
emphasize the giving of money, and to quote ex- 
amples like that of the banker who, by his broad- 
minded liberality, so greatly inspired the Protes- 
tant Episcopal Bishop of New York, and of the 
Methodist Episcopal layman of whom I have just 
learned that, in order to encourage the smaller 
churches of his city to pay off their debts, and 
thus to free themselves for greater usefulness, he 
has offered to give one fourth of each obligation 
which such assistance will enable the members of 
a particular congregation to discharge. Divine 
stewards! Christian financiers and statesmen! 
Patriots of the Kingdom of Him who expects sup- 
port in voluntary taxation, in free-will offerings 
of the incomes and accumulated capital of His 
people ! It is a well-known fact that states can- 
not live without revenues. Sadly the world has 

304 



THE CITY REDEEMED 

learned how great is the cost of making war. 
For the building of the Christian city, for the 
extension of the power of Christ's Capital, for the 
erection of a Home Town of Purity, Plenty, and 
Peace, "Bring ye all the tithes into the store- 
house." "Give, and it shall be given unto you." 
Toil and give, and as you pay and labor, pray to 
Him who holds the results and all their values in 
his own hand. "Except Jehovah build the house, 
they labor in vain that build it : except Jehovah 
keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." 
What shall be looked for in a City Redeemed? 
What shall the forces of Christianity and of the 
Church of God be rallied and directed to attain? 
The Christianization of the people of the city is 
the one great need, in order to assure the radical 
solution of civic problems and the destruction 
and future prevention of the evils which attend 
city life. Man is at the bottom of all : we cannot 
redeem the city without redeeming man. A new 
manhood means everything new and better, in- 
cluding a new and better city. But the matter 
works both ways. Environment has much to do 
with character. People and circumstances have 
mutually influential relations. Satan works 
through evil institutions as well as through bad 
men, and to conquer him the attack must be made 
both front and rear. The devil is surrounded 
when the surroundings of human life are puri- 
fied, and are made pleasant and uplifting. The 
particular items of the process must, of course, 

305 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

receive the attention of specialists, but all should 
be interested in the entire program. The Church 
must encourage both specialists and plodders, 
and must itself be the Ideal Citizen, with a mind 
for every needed task and with a heart that re- 
sponds to every demand for sympathy and for 
assistance. What we need is not a labor church, 
but a laboring church, with understanding and 
appreciation of all work and workers, increas- 
ing the number of idealists who dream, and cheer- 
ing engineers and mechanics who create temples 
of arts and crafts, and institutions of education, 
of useful business, of comfort, and of recreation. 
Every city should have a beautiful body. The 
ugliness of not a few American cities is by no 
means a permanent necessity, but it will be 
removed only by such sacrifices as that which the 
government is making for the embellishment of 
Washington, as Chicago made for its scheme of 
water-front adornment, as Greater Boston and 
Detroit have put into their park systems and 
drives. Commercial exploitation and the lust for 
gain have all but ruined the natural advantages 
and glories of many towns. Some of these are, 
with comparative ease, improvable, like the 
Scotchman, because they can still be caught 
young enough. New places which will yet be 
centers of population may learn by the mistakes 
of their predecessors. The chief concern of the 
Christian city-builder will, however, be not so 
much physical beauty and material grandeur as 

306 



THE CITY REDEEMED 

the safety, convenience, and satisfaction of the 
average citizen, for whose good the municipality 
will increasingly control public utilities and ad- 
minister the affairs of government. The protec- 
tion of life and limb in the streets, the safeguard- 
ing of homes at night, the reduction of the death 
rate by scientific sanitation, by healthful hous- 
ing, by the care of persons afflicted with con- 
tagious and infectious disease, by the regulation 
and reduction in cost of wholesome food supplies, 
the abolition of close alleys, sweatshops, and 
centers of lawlessness, will receive powerful, de- 
termined, and intelligent care in the City Re- 
deemed. Especially childhood will be protected, 
from bad milk, from the need to exercise, if at all, 
in foul areas and dusty streets, from organized 
vice, from godless instruction and example, from 
profanity, lewdness, and greed. 

The author of a noble paper entitled ^'A City 
with a Soul,'' opens up a rich channel of thought 
when he says: ^'It is the fine and self -forgetful 
things done in the spirit of brotherhood and civic 
zeal, that belong to the soul of a city. It is the 
elimination of the great tragedy of metropolitan 
life, which is its cold-heartedness, man's aloof- 
ness from his fellows. It is the infusion of the 
warmth of human sympathy and neighborliness 
where now there is selfishness and coldness. 
Bear in mind that the majority of people who 
come to swell urban populations hail from 
smaller communities where they have been 

307 



THE CHURCH IN THE CITY 

cheered by friendly contact with their fellows, 
where the greeting by name is the common and 
heartening incident of the highway, where social 
intimacies bind all together. The city with a 
soul will seek the continuance of this fellowship 
to the largest possible degree. It will strive to 
make the transition of the big city less forlorn 
and heartbreaking. Henry W. Grady, the elo- 
quent spokesman of the New South, gave up a 
newspaper career in New York and returned to 
Georgia because nobody could tell him about the 
little white casket that was being carried down 
the stairs of his apartment one morning when he 
was going to work. A city with a soul will re- 
duce coldness and sordidness to the minimum." 

In the new and better city life unclean partisan 
politics will no longer be the bane of education, 
the menace of honest business, and the despair of 
moral progress. Citizens will be citizens, not 
partisans, and certainly not self-exploiters or 
grafters. Men of wealth and culture will devote 
their lives to unselfish service of the community, 
and wise methods of examination, together with 
the investigation of character, experience, and 
achievements, will assure honor, promotion, and 
increased usefulness to all servants of the public. 
In our days the idea of organizing national life 
and industry upon a military model, as was pro- 
posed by Edward Bellamy, may seem peculiarly 
unattractive, but that the mutual services of 
the community may be systematized, and espe- 

308 



THE CITY REDEEMED 

cially that the chief incitements to toil and to the 
exercise of skill may come to be, not money, but 
praise and advancement to higher stations and 
opportunities in the civic army, is a conception 
not beyond the possibility of at least partial ful- 
fillment. 

The City of Light for which we are looking will 
be without sanctioned vice or protected crime. 
It will have parks, playgrounds, museums, art 
galleries, public halls and temples, but it will 
banish the bawdy cabaret, the obscene theater, 
the drinking, politically conniving, and law- 
breaking saloon, the gilded liquor and gambling 
club, the dope-selling drug store, the taxed and 
defended redlight district, and the house of ill 
fame. This cleaning up will take place even if 
necessary against such misguided protests as 
was that of the club women of Cleveland, who, 
because of an alleged fear of the scattering of 
objectionable persons throughout the city, com- 
plained to the chief of police against the enforce- 
ment of his order closing the segregated quarter. 
A similar opposition, partly sincere and partly 
hypocritical, was encountered under like circum- 
stances in Atlanta. The daily papers and the 
ballgrounds of the future city will contain no 
beer and whiskey advertisements. Its moving 
pictures and billboards will be sanely but strictly 
censored. Its places of business will keep short 
hours, and its factories will be clean, light, well 
ventilated, and pure. Blasphemy will not be 

3Q9 



THE CHUKCH IN THE CITY 

heard upon its streets, and courtesy, kindness, 
and reverence will characterize the manners of 
its citizens. It will be a place of which to be 
proud, and to whose fealty to make oath in the 
spirit of the sons of Athens, who nobly vowed, 
^^I will never bring dishonor or disgrace upon my 
city, nor desert my suffering comrades in the 
ranks. I will fight for the sacred ideals and 
standards of my city, both alone or with many. 
I will respect and obey her laws and seek to 
impose a like obedience and respect upon the part 
of those above us who are prone to annul them or 
set them aside. Thus in all ways will I seek to 
transmit my city, not only not less but greater, 
more beautiful and better than it was trans- 
mitted to us.'' 

The value of life in a city is not to be estimated 
by its bank balances but by the virtue and com- 
fort of its inhabitants. Plato, speaking of the 
true aim of the legislator, says that it "is not to 
make the city as rich or as mighty as possible, 
but the best and the happiest." Is it too much to 
expect that a day will come when such concep- 
tions as this will fill the minds and thrill the 
hearts of city dwellers, causing them to select 
rulers and to follow civic leaders who seek the 
highest welfare of the people? Is it too much 
to believe that some day Christ will come into 
his own in the city? He who loved Jerusalem, 
and who not only wept over it but wrought in it 
works of purification and of healing, is still a 

310 



THE CITY REDEEMED 

friend and lover of throngs, and has now, as of 
old, compassion for multitudes engrossed with 
earthly pleasures and pursuits, restless and un- 
happy, or "sadly contented with a show of 
things." The Man of childhood's affection, of 
poverty's solace, of simplicity's wisdom, of sin's 
cure, of weakness's strength, and of sorrow's joy 
is the hope of the race and the Morning Star of 
Progress. In the very centers of life, upon the 
rock of faith, of righteousness and of fidelity, He 
will build his Church, which is to convert selfish- 
ness, wickedness and pride into humility, purity 
and sacrificial service. And through the labors 
of a consecrated people there shall at length arise 
in might the walls of a City of Victory. 

A city that shall stand, 

A light upon a nation's hill, 

A Voice that evil cannot still, 
A source of blessing to the land: 
Its strength not brick, nor stone, nor wood, 
But Justice, Love, and Brotherhood. 



311 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

In the nature of the case, most of the facts concerning 
present-day churches must he ohtained at first hand, through 
acquaintance with churches, pastors, and contemporaneous 
publications in newspaper and pamphlet form. In general, 
recent works concerning the Church, the ministry, the 
laity, sociology, and special problems of city life are the 
books to be consulted. The following brief list of titles is 
named as Indicative of sources of useful information some- 
what related to the topics proposed in this volume. 

Better New York, The, Tollman. 

Boyhood and Lawlessness — the Neglected Girl, Goldmark 
and True, 

Brotherhood and Democracy, Ward, William. 

Child Welfare, Problems of. Mangold. 

Children in Bondage, Marlcham, Lindsey, and Creel. 

Children of the Poor, Riis. 

Children of the Tenements, Riis. 

Church, The and the Changing Order, M'Gonnell, 8. D. 

Church, The Institutional, Judson. 

Church Work, Modern Methods of. Mead. 

Church Publicity, Reisner. 

Church, The Socialized, Tippy. 

Church, The Christian Pastor and the Working, Gladden. 

Church, The, and the Young Man, 

Church, The, and Young Men, Cressey. 

Churches, Social Creed of. Ward, H. F. 

Christi, Gesta, Brace. 

Christianity Practically Applied, Rainsford. 

Christian Brotherhoods, Leete. 

Cities, Modern and the Religious Problem, Lummis. 

City, Challenge of the. Strong. 

City, The Christian, Magazine, New York City Society, 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 

312 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

City, The Foursquare, Magazine, Chicago City Society, 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 

City Streets, The Spirit of Youth and, Addams. 

City of the Sun, Campanella. 

City, The Twentieth Century, Strong. 

Civitas Dei, Augustine. 

Conwell, Russell H., The Man and the Work, Burr. 

Drummond, Life of Henry, Smith. 

How the Other Half Lives, Riis. 

If Christ Came to Chicago, Stead. 

Laymen In Action, Quayle. 

Looking Backward, Bellamy. 

Mission, Leitfaden der Inneren, Schafer. 

Missionary Societies, Publications of Home. 

Morgan Memorial, the Present and Future, Buss. 

Nasmith, Memoirs of David, Campbell. 

Politics, Jesus and. Shepherd. 

Race Betterment, Proceedings of National Conference on. 

Religion, Social Applications, Stelzle, et al. 

Religious Institutions, Social Applications of, Earp. 

Slum, Battle with, Riis. 

Social Aspects of Christianity, Ely. 

Social Betterment, Religious Movements for. Strong. 

Social Ministry, Ward, H. F. 

Social Order, Christianizing the, Rauscheniusch. 

Social Question, Jesus Christ and the, Peahody. 

Social Substitutes for the Saloon, Calkins, R. 

Social Survey of the Washington District, New York, 
Trinity Church Men's Committee. 

Stadtmission, Die, Lehrmann. 

Stadtmission, Die Berliner, Evers. 

Stadtmission, Die Evangelische, Kayser. 

These Fifty Years, London, Weyhland. 

Town Church, Problems of. Miller. 

Utopias, Especially Plato's Republic and Campanella, 
op. cit. 

Wonder- Workers, Wade. 

Year Books of Leading Denominations, and of Prominent 
Churches. 

Young Man, The, and the Church, Bok. 
313 



INDEX 



Acts, modem of Apostles, 47, 
142, 178ff. 

Advertising, 115, 126 

Aliens, care of, 99, 259fif., 271, 
284 

Amenities, Christian, 140 

Augustine, 9 

BeUamy, E., 308 

Berlin Mission, 267 

Bethany Presbyterian, Phila., 
185 

Brace, Chas. Loring, 245, et seq. 

Brick Presbyterian, Rochester, 
167, 186 ' 

Brooklyn City Mission, 265 

Brooks, Bishop Phillips, 11 

Brotherhood, Christian, 177, 
199, 307 

Business Church, 32, 55, 149, 
152 

Central Methodist Church, 
Detroit, 168, 185 

Children at church, 203 

Christ, spirit, 17, 202; city 
need, 20; and weakness, 70; 
concern for city, 98; democ- 
racy, 114; one theme, 125, 
127; first, 210, 219; city re- 
deemer, 273; the one hope, 
311 

Christ Episcopal Church, Cin- 
cinnati, 164 

Christ Episcopal Church, 
Louisville, 163, 181 

Christian Associations, 22, 254 

Christianity, produces social 
values, 10, 273; and com- 
mon people, 17; and cities, 
19, 286; to be studied, 43; 
Hved, 44; land-holder, 106; 
to save all, 136; pure, 107; 
teaching, 290 ^ 

Christians, how judged, 44, 47; 
world's Christ, 46; social 
justice, 49; trained, 145; co- 
operation, 231, 272; the first, 
286 



Christian unity, 228ff. 

Church, fundamental to city 
character, 11, 15, 22, 156, 
288ff.; seK-knowledge, 12; 
the country, 12; central 
city, 15, 18, 24, 26, 31, 36, 
42, 103, 129, 150, 153, 157, 
162, 269, 272; exists for men, 
16, 99, 197, 208; surrender 
of sites, 17, 19, 28; member- 
ship, 19, 32, 130, 139, 210, 
219, 273; values, 22; door 
to society, 23; piracy, 29 
promotion, 32; women, 40 
churchmen, 45; and poUtics! 
52; preachers, 44; aliens and 
99, 259ff.; architecture, 204 
stickit, 102ff.; management! 
109, 113, 122; redemption 
111, 115, 228; debts, 112 
titles, 113, 158; activity, 116 
destruction, 117£f.; program 
121, 195; liberahsm, 122 
worldliness, 126, 134, 196 
208, 225ff.; life, 127, 226 
papers, 131, 215ff.; and 
home, 144; grouping, 146 
attendance, 147, 203ff.; 214 
250; and labor, 148, 301 
boards, 152; workers, 154, 
179; forms, 205; services! 
206; and press, 209; congre- 
gation-building, 210; invita- 
tion, 215; and city redemp- 
tion, 297; federations, 300 

Churches, not classified, 12; 
downtown 24; relations, 26, 
28, 31, 195, 211, 271; his- 
toric, 30, 35; mutual aid, 32; 
members make, 39, 45, 219; 
location, 104ff., 261; adapta- 
tion, 108, 116, 126; use of 
credit, 112; democratic, 114 
college, 141; memorial, 143 
tourist, 145; factory, 147£f. 
control, 159; selling, 160 
powerful, 173; union, 220flf. 



314 



INDEX 



failures, 225; small, 226; pic- 
tures, 240; open air work, 
241; new, 303; cooperation, 
304 

Cities, growth, 10, 282ff.; bat- 
tle-ground, 12, 20, 286; puri- 
fied, 15, 309; people of, 21; 
abandoned centers, 28; evils 
at heart, 61, 88, 285, 291, 
307; sacrifice for, 277; origin, 
279; history, 288ff.; mediae- 
val, 281; power, 287; Amer- 
ican, 287; western, 290; 
value of Hfe in, 310 

Citizen, the ideal, 306, 308 

City, modern, 10; regeneration, 
11, 297, 309; Christianity in, 
19, 288, 292; inner and outer, 
21; devourer, 21, 61, 309; mis- 
sions, 36, 99, 103; debt to 
country, 40; needs strong 
men, 42, 275; poKtics, 50; 
study of, 62; preachers, 63, 
68, 97; centers, 101; child, 
234fe.; play-grounds, 235, 
et seq.; debt of wealth to, 
269; new, 276; oldest, 280; 
life and character, 285; 
church memberships, 292ff.; 
perfect, 296, 309; Christian, 
305; beauty, 306; health, 
307; soul, 307; fellowship, 
308; virtues, 309 

City Missions in Europe, 265ff . 

City of God, 9 

City of Light, 309 

City of the Sun, 296 

Civic Church, 298ff. 

Civic ReHgion, Rousseau on, 9; 
needed, 288 

Civilization, peril of irreHgious, 
290, 295, 299 

Confessional, 71 

ConweU, RusseU H., 188ff ., 199 

Country church, 12; produces 
city laymen, 40 

Crockett, S. R., 102 

Democracy, in the church, 43, 
114, 137, 148, 196, 198; in 
cities, 286 

Denominationalism, 229ff. 



Downtown problems, 36, 97, 
129, 153, 157, 162, 197, 269 

Drummond, Henry, 84 

Education, church and, 142; 
Christian, 155 

Endowments of chm-ches, 115, 
224 

Evangelism, by good conduct, 
47; adventures, 100; demo- 
cratic, 114; and endow- 
ments, 172; importance, 176; 
church, 256; Sunday-school, 
249; r e s p o nsibihty, 270; 
through cities, 284 

Federation of churches, 300 

First Baptist Church, Syra- 
cuse, 168, 191 

First Congregational, Hart- 
ford, 161 

First Methodist, Chicago, 169 

First Presbyterian, Pittsburgh, 
187 

Fraternity, 140 

Fort Street Mission, Detroit, 
258 

Grace Baptist Temple, Phila., 
188fif. 

Grand Ave. Methodist, Kan- 
sas City, 169 

Greer, Bishop David H., 166, 
304 

Gospel, 67, 141 

Haberle, Jacob, 246ff. 

Hadley Mission, New York, 
257 

Helping Hand IVlission, Sioux 
City, 258 

Hull Street Settlement, Bos- 
ton, 257 

Institutional churches, 145; 
opinions, 194ff . ; independ- 
ence, 271 

Johnson, Samuel, 10 

Labor Church, 301, et seq. 

Labor movement, 302 

Laymen, city, 33, 38, 274; 
women, 40; kiad needed, 43, 
107, 116; sincere, 45, 46; 
relations with world, 48; and 
preachers, 53; intelligent, 56; 
unprogressive, 10 9, 113; 



315 



INDEX 



timid, 112; aggressive, 115; 
blindly led, 118 

Leaders, developed, 33; hinder- 
ers, 110; effective. 111 

Leete, W. W., on congrega- 
tional endowments, 162 

Lindsey, B. B., 238ff. 

London Mission, 266 

Mathewson Street Methodist, 
Providence, 183ff. 

Memorial Chm-ches, 35, 143 

Men, and church business, 34, 
43, 55; make churches, 38, 
118; and society, 305 

Meyer, F. B., 197 

Ministry, importance, 39, 86; 
to neediest, 88; to sick, 90; 
honor, 98; equipment, 116; 
test, 211 

Missions City, 36; to foreign- 
ers, 99, 103, 130; classes, 136, 
156; properties, 160; New- 
York, 193; institutional, 196, 
199 

Moody, 85 

Morality, product rehgion, 11, 
22, 23, 243; pulpit teaching, 
65; home, 86, 93; no sub- 
stitute for religion, 125, 135; 
value, 155 

Morgan Memorial, Methodist, 
Boston, 182, 252, 263 

Nasmith, David, 266 

New York City Mission, 264 

New York City Society, Meth- 
odist, 284 

Ninth Street Baptist, Cincin- 
nati, 261 

Pastors, work of, important, 
81ff., 92, 94, seq.; assistants, 
82, 217; visits, 85, 87, 90; 
advisers, 86; confidence in, 
88; beginnings, 88; failures, 
89; records, 89; chief busi- 
ness, 90; seriousness, 91; 
purity, 92; wisdom, 94; prep- 
aration, 97; field, 98ff., 255, 
274; terms, 106, et seq., 110; 
changes, 108, 115, seq.; suc- 
cess, 109; influence, 118; dis- 
tant members, 131; of rich, 



133ff.; prayer for, 134; 
temptations, 138ff.; college, 
143; and children, 243 

Philanthropy, church and, 16, 
200, 251, 254ff., 294; not 
substitute for rehgion, 175 

Pilgrim Congregational 
Church, Cleveland, 162, 192 

Plato, 310, 313 

Plymouth Congrega tional 
Church, Brooklyn, 191 

Preachers, central, 18, 20, 97; 
need of, 39, 53; meetings of, 
52; quahty of, 54; experts, 
46, 63, 69; influence of, 64, 
68, 133; debt to, 65; great, 
67; confessors of, 71, 84; 
relations of, 73, 138; perils 
of, 74ff.; time of, 78, 83, 85; 
duties of, 80; most useful, 
82; weariness of, 84; failures 
of, 107, 123; fidelity of, 135, 
217; labor of, 148; test of, 
211 

Preaching, value of, 64, 68, 
103; gospel, 67; sensational, 
66, 121, 212; wise, 141; pop- 
ular, 207, 213; topics, 212, 
214 

Prophets, mav lose gift, 74 

Proselyting, 138ff. 

Protestant memberships, in 
cities, 293 

PoHtics, Christians in, 50; out- 
look of, 52 

Pulpit, power of, 67, 69; fail- 
ures of, 81, 89; demagogues 
in, 136; and children, 204; 
extension of, 218 

Rainsford, W. S., 162, et seq. 

Rauschenbusch, W., 298 

Reform Bureaus, 200, 289 

Religion, creates morals, 11, 
243; focalized, 18; needs 
church, 22; recruits, 53; vi- 
tal, 119, 289; and philan- 
thropy, 175ff.; and play, 
235ff.; new, a failure, 303 

Riis, Jacob, 238 

Romanism, debts, 158; insti- 
tutions of, 177; church at- 



316 



INDEX 



tendance, 203ff . ; home train- 
ing of, 208; growth and de- 
sertions of, 208; extension 
of, 223, 261; city member- 
ships of, 292. 

Saint George's Episcopal 
Church, New York, 163, 
177ff. 

Savonarola, 67 

Service, the highest, 57, 70, 72, 
85, 93ff., 98, 148 

Stead, W. T., 298ff. 

Stewardship, 55, 135, 150, 
155, 170, 174, 244, 269ff., 
304 

Social justice, good evangel- 
ism, 47; difficulties, 49 

Social service. Church and, 25, 
72, 135, 199, 251, 294; 
perils, 76; departments, 200 

Social values, Christianity 
and, 10 

Social workers, Church trains, 
25, 200; reception, 48; en- 
couragement, 254 



Society, door, 23, 45; mutual 
respect, 49; debt to preach- 
ers, 65, 70; cure for evils, 
137, 298 

Sunday school, endowment of, 
165; equipment of, 189; im- 
portance of, 193; church 
attendance of, 203, et seq.; 
effectiveness and needs of, 
248ff. 

Teaching, pulpit, 66 

Tennyson, on childhood, 233 

Trinity Episcopal Church, 
New York, 164, 180, 237 

Utopia, 297 

Wall Street Mission, Sioux 
City, 258 

Wesley House, New York, 257 

Wichern, J. H., 266 

Woman, work in church, 40 

Worship, value of, 176; appeal, 
of, 212 

Youth, in the city, 21, 22; 
associations of church, 23; 
ambitions of, 54 



317 



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